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Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 124: Holiday Houseplants Made Easy
Ever wonder why your poinsettia crashes by New Year’s while your neighbour’s looks flawless into January? We sit down with greenhouse manager Adrian Lee to demystify holiday plants and real Christmas trees with clear, field-tested advice you can use today. From watering routines that actually work to placement tips that prevent stress and leaf drop, this is a practical guide to keeping festive greens alive and beautiful.
Adrian breaks down the quirks of classic Christmas plants: how poinsettias colour up after a darker rest period and why they hate soggy foil sleeves; the simple feeding schedule that coaxes Christmas cactus into reliable blooms; and the difference between moisture lovers like frosty fern and rot-prone bulbs like cyclamen. We also explore small but mighty evergreens such as lemon cypress, plus rosemary and lavender trimmed into miniature trees for scent, cooking, and calmer sleep. Looking to build a mixed planter? Learn how to water each species on its own terms without drowning the rest.
If a real tree anchors your season, you’ll get a straightforward care playbook: make a fresh base cut, keep the stand topped up, consider cooler room temps, and mist to slow needle loss. We even talk about oxygenating water and whether brown sugar does anything meaningful. For gardeners dreaming ahead, Adrian explains compact ornamentals for small lots, grafted apple trees with staggered ripening, and pollination basics. We wrap with kitchen garden tips like pruning bay to encourage branching and sustainable leaf harvests.
How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, Steve Nitzwicky, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and inspirations. Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.
SPEAKER_08:Meanwhile, we're sitting there popping along trying to figure out how to catch a bass. And we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
SPEAKER_10:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that's might be more efficient than it was punchy.
SPEAKER_07:You so confidently you said, hey Pat, have you ever eaten a drunk? Find diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER_02:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Olette, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of this strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy. Okay, as always, we're thanking our listeners all across Ontario, Canada, the States, Switzerland, you name it, Ghana, the Caribbean, Saudi, et cetera, et cetera. We really appreciate you listening. And of course, you got them. Ask the questions. You want to see, you want to hear something? Let us know. We'll try and put a show on for you. And as usual, we we've we give you updates. And I got to tell you, it was uh it was just one of those days. And I really uh appreciate my guest because it was one of those days where, oh my, what am I gonna do now? Uh the the the sinks are plugged solid and backing up and water's going everywhere. And what am I gonna do? So I'm bailing the water out, and and then on top of that, when it rains, it pours. Well, actually, when it snows, it snows here. And we're in that time of year when the snow is out there. But uh, and everybody knows about Gunner. And and Gunner's my big buddy, of course. Since the boys moved out when I'm out in the bush cutting, uh cutting trees and stuff like that, who's coming with me and watching and helping out? Well, he's just being there is a big help. And I got to tell you, it's just like he knows when I start the chainsaw, he sits and lies down. And I make sure he's in a good safe spot so any trees I'm taking down, that they're nowhere near his his cutting distance. Because as I mentioned when we had my son Garrett on, once upon a time we were out with Garrett, and it was like a brand new saw that was about two weeks old, uh still 462 Arctic, which means it has heated handles and all the bells and whistles, an expensive saw, commercial saw, a big time. And there was a canopy, so he what that means was that the the leaves were still on the trees, basically, and Garrett had a tree going. And anyways, it was going to fall straight north and kind of probably north-northeast. And Gunner and I were directly west of where it was, but all of a sudden the tree started falling, and it was either save the dog or save the saw, and I grabbed, Gunner, come on, get running with me, and he runs, and the tree fell and did a 90-degree turn from where it was supposed to go and landed right on Garrett's brand new saw and wiped the saw out. But he's my buddy and he's out there with me all the time, and we had some problems. I mentioned about his operation, and we were in to see Dr. Matt. I got to say thanks to Hannah as well. It was one of those things where all of a sudden, uh two days ago, he was out for a run, and he was running like a spring pup. I gotta tell you, he's going crazy in the snow. And he was out playing with other dogs, and he's keeping up with Willie. And Willie is a German short haired, a young one. He's only about two years old, maybe three. And Gunner's like six, and he's running with Willie. And Willie's in great shape, runs all the time. Gunner's a lab, so he's a little bit uh, how shall I say, uh he could maybe lose uh 10% of his weight or five percent. But he's going and keeping up with Willie after he already's done his run, and then Winston shows up, and then Tilly shows up, and anyways, he's running and going crazy. Well, the next thing I know, he's starting to limp. The next day I notice he's limping, and then he's getting some urinary problems where he's sleeping, and all of a sudden I look over, he gets up off his his special chair. My wife buys a special chair every few months to replace it for him. And it's the only spot he knows. He knows that's his chair, and he looks out the front window, and it's the only one. He doesn't go on any of the other chairs in the in the living room at all. That's just his spot, and there's a big urinary spot there, and I'm like, oh no, what's going on? Well, he's limping, and I'm seeing some a little bit of dribble here and there, and I like, I gotta get him into the vets because I don't want this being a problem. So thanks to Hannah and Dr. Matt, they rushed us in this morning and we got in and and uh got them all fixed up. So things are things are on the move, and you know, I just thank uh thank God for the the places that we have and the things that we do and the ability to do those things. And so the water's all drained out, the plumbers coming in later on after this podcast, and gunner's all fixed up, which is great. But uh, as I mentioned a couple of times now, we talk about the snow. So I'm out yesterday and we had a big snowfall, and the plow goes by and both sides of the road and leaves a huge bank in front of the driveways across the road. Of course, as I mentioned before, what I do is I shovel that l area leading up to my driveway on, I do one shovel width about 20, 25, maybe 30 feet along the neighbor's front yard, because that's the way the plow comes, and then push the snow out, and there's virtually no bank at all. So the neighbor across the road is just, hey, Jerry, Jerry. And he's uh a very well-known broadcaster in the uh uh the television world. But anyway, so he's like, What's going on? How come yours is so small and mine's so big? And I said, Well, Ken, I said, your neighbor used to be there, and and Don, bless his soul, he used to take the the snowblower and do a path down his way, but the new guy that's moved into Don's house doesn't do that. And so now all of a sudden you get these huge banks. Well, Ken had a heck of a time getting that that out, so it was nice to see, but the big thing with that is when it starts to get warm or warm up a little bit and then freezes, it's really hard to break into. So we got that all cleared out. You know, and I gotta tell you, the fire in place uh insert that I put in the house has been spectacular. It's got a double blower system, and we haven't had, well, that's not true. There was two times. One time, for some reason, we was out and left the front door open a few inches, and the house was like ice cold, so I turned the furnace on for about 20, 25 minutes, and I had another 20-minute uh bout where I had the furnace on. But since then I have not had the furnace on. All I've done is had burn burning wood. And they tell you that these inserts, they don't burn as much wood. But uh, and it's true, I mean I put four logs probably, oh, six inches diameter last night about 11 o'clock, and at 7 o'clock this morning there were still hot coals in there, and I didn't have to put anything, I just put a couple more pieces in and it goes. But and it throws the heat spectacular. But they say you don't burn as much wood. True. However, I burn more often. Because when I had the fireplace there, I would burn wood, and you know, every night we'd come home and I'd fill up the fireplace and then fill it up before I went to bed, and it gave off some heat, but not a heck of a lot. But now there's this this fireplace insert, which has been spectacular, I keep that going 24 uh 24-7, and on cold days, like it was minus 13 yesterday, last night, maybe minus 15, you would you would never notice it. And all I do is I turn the fans on in the furnace, and it sends the heat and circulates the air around the house and does a pretty good job. Mind you, it's a ranch bungalow that was built in 1958. And the bedrooms are a little bit cool, but I like it that way for sleeping. So it uh it keeps the house very nice, but I'm burning more often, so I need to get some more wood. So one of the things that I was doing was I happened to notice where I was running gunner that they'd taken down a big old dead ash tree. And guess who's hauling out logs that uh pretty big. They're about eight feet long and about uh eight, ten inches, oh about ten inches at the small. Oh, about no, at the at the big, the big end of the stump. So they got some weight to them, and I'm putting them on my back, and guess who popped a rib? So I gotta get in next week, first thing in the morning, to get that rib put back in place so I get my breathing back going. But in this time of the year, as always, it's uh I can tell when the weather changes. Because when I was young and foolish, I rolled my four-wheeler. My I had a four-wheel drive vehicle and having to roll it, broke my nose. And I still have sinus problems to this day. So every time the a big weather pressure change comes in, I get these sinus headaches that seem to be a little maybe uh brain fog, but I just have some more liquids and and some antioxidants, and it takes care of the brain fog stuff. And the other thing was that it was found very interesting was inside uh uh the uh the vet clinic that uh um they have a big sign about pets having arthritis and the arthritic pain. Well, I gotta tell you, Chaga works spectacular. We've had huge numbers not only of people, but of vet of pets, particularly canine's dogs, using Chaga to to uh alleviate a lot of the arthritis problems. And and one guy, Kevin, down in one of the stores I frequent, he says, you know, my dog, you know, it's a lab, it's getting old, and it doesn't jump up on the bed anymore. And and most people don't know this, but the number one reason people buy bigger beds is to accommodate their pet. And well, sure and lo and behold, they had a bigger bed, a king-sized bed to accommodate this lab, but he doesn't jump anymore and they miss him. So I said, You gotta try the Chaga. So sure enough, give him the Chaga. And he says, you know, that Chaga works spectacular. He jumps up on the bed, and as soon as he uh stops and he he doesn't uh jump up anymore, I know it's time to give him some more, but it works great in alleviating a lot of the arthritis that pets get. Now, there's arthritis comes in a mostly it's inflammation-based, so psoriatic and rheumatoid is inflammation-based, where osteoarthritis is not. And so it helps out in a lot of area and eliminates the inflammation, allows the body to heal itself, which is very good. But I got to tell you, first of all, now we'll get to the reason we're here. It's that time of year where we bring on a special guest, and I very much appreciate this special guest for accommodating me. I was here at the recording studio, what, three hours ago, and then all of a sudden I had all these other things that I had to mention that I had to deal with, so we took care of that, and he was very accommodating. And I want to welcome Adrian Lee to the podcast. Welcome to the podcast, Adrian. Thanks for having me on the show. It's a pleasure to have you there. So, Adrian, tell us a bit about yourself, you know, uh uh where you're from, uh your background, you know, so our international listeners know, basically from Toronto, kind of where you are.
SPEAKER_05:So I'm originally from England, and now I live here in Bowmanville, Ontario. Um, and I am the greenhouse manager at Van Bell Flowers.
SPEAKER_02:Van Bell Flowers. Okay, where's where's Van Bell Flowers, Adrian?
SPEAKER_05:We are located at 1979 Highway 2 in Bowmanville.
SPEAKER_02:All right. And I know my wife likes to shop there, uh, but her and her sister did some Christmas shopping and was surprised they showed up on a Sunday. And you're not open on Sundays, which is good for you.
SPEAKER_05:We are not open on Sundays, no.
SPEAKER_02:Hi, very good. It's it's kind of like uh Chick-fil-A filet any day but Sunday, which is fine by me of uh being an individual of faith, that uh I have no problem with that. So, yeah, she's a frequent uh visitor and I get there fairly often as well, and I appreciate that. So tell us about uh a bit about what's your position at uh Van Bellum. Tell us a bit about the organization.
SPEAKER_05:So I and we've been around since 1960. Um, and I'm the greenhouse manager here for the past 20 years. So I look after at the greenhouse and the garden center. Um I also look after some of the giftware, garden giftware, all that sort of stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Now, Adrian, you said you're from England. Whereabouts in England were you? Uh originally from Harrow area. Where's north of London? Just north of London. And when did you come to Canada?
SPEAKER_05:In 1975.
SPEAKER_02:So you've been here for quite a few years.
SPEAKER_05:I have, but I usually go back on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, very good. And what did you do in England when you were there?
SPEAKER_05:Um I was in school.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Very good. Very good. And so tell us what sort of plants do you grow at uh Van Bell Nurseries? All year long? And and then we'll get into a little bit of Christmas stuff. So you carry a wide gambit of flowers?
SPEAKER_05:Uh we do, yeah. We carry pretty much everything from um seasonal plants, um, we do garden center product, uh trees, shrubs, um, a lot of tropical plants. Uh we we are pretty popular for tropical plants.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And so a lot of these ones, like the trees, um, what kind of trees do you carry on a normal basis? And do you have fruit-bearing trees or is it is it ornamental trees?
SPEAKER_05:Is it uh so it's usually ornamental trees, and we kind of try and keep it to a minimum on the smaller trees because most people around here don't have large um building lots. So it's more on the more ornamental stuff.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so what would that be?
SPEAKER_05:Uh uh Japanese maple, is it? We do carry Japanese maples, the blood goods, all the other varieties of the cutleaf Japanese maples. Um we do some of the ornamental pears. Um fruit trees we do not carry. Um stuff like sumac and things like that. We do we have carried it in the past, yes. Okay, so I can special order for people if they if they're looking for something specific. I can usually bring them in in the springtime because we have trucks coming in on a weekly basis.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, so you can you can order in special plants and flowers?
SPEAKER_05:We can, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Now, I recall uh way back in the 80s when I worked for International Imports and Dave Kiff, he had a tree in the backyard. It was an apple tree, but it had four different types of apples on the tree.
SPEAKER_05:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:Is that something you can order through uh your facility?
SPEAKER_05:Uh yes, they are available, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Um can you put uh a pear tree and an apple tree on the same uh is it rootstock, they call it? Um you can. Okay. It sounded like you had some hesitation there.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's it's grafting. It would have to be grafted on.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. And so I I know that uh I I've got a number of how many apple trees I got? One, two, three, four, five. Five apple trees at my place. And a couple of them are so low to the ground that they're they're problematic to cut the grass under. So can you order different heights of trees and things like that?
SPEAKER_05:Uh we can. They or it depends on it, usually it goes by the gallon size of the pot. Okay. But you can you can take up the the lower branches.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And then so you take I well, that's what I've been doing cutting the lower branches. Yep. But so the the the stock that comes up, because I I I remember talking with um Ted Chudley, uh um uh, you know, he was an MPP when I was in in the legislature as well. And they had uh Chudley's apples. Um that uh, well, I should order that this particular stock height, and that's the sort of thing that people can do to um eliminate that low branches that makes a problem cutting the grass underneath it. Right. Yeah, and so um when you cut the lower branches, are you cutting off the new stuff that grows above that? Will they be if you're grafting on because I'm not sure how it goes. Um I know you see when you see the the uh the apple trees, they have like a looks like a ball where the the roots start in the ground.
SPEAKER_05:Right. And then you have go ahead. Yeah, and if you look further up, if it's a grafted one, you're gonna have a knot at the top as well where your um where your branches on that start coming out of. So that's the graph.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So those are the graft. Now, is it hard to do grafting if somebody wants to try their own?
SPEAKER_05:Uh no, you would actually take a slice, uh, take another variety, and put it into that slice, bind it up so that it actually takes root inside.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So the then the big question was, and and I didn't really realize it, that um in order to pollinate a tree, it has to be from a different tree. Correct. So, and not the same strain. So like uh a honey crisp um apple tree cannot be pollinated by another honey crisp apple tree, is that right?
SPEAKER_05:That's right. Okay, so you need a different variety.
SPEAKER_02:So if you have a tree with different varieties on it, will that can they use the pollen from that to pollinate that entire tree? So if you have uh That's a good question. I I don't know. I because I don't know if you have uh like a uh an empire, uh honey crisp. And what I try to do is is I always ask for a specialty tree, which I haven't got yet, which is because I like apples to ripen at different times. So when I was talking with Ted Chudley, he said, well, this is what you because this is an early this one ripens early and these ones ripen later. So on your tree, you can get it grafted, so you might have three different ripening times early in the season, mid season, and late season apples. And that way you have fresh apples coming off the tree all the time. You don't have to harvest them all at the same time. But I didn't know, and I forgot to ask them, if that's the case, if Because you've got you know Empire or Honey Crisp and Macintosh, whatever the mixture might be. Will they be able to pollinate each other? And I don't know.
SPEAKER_05:But they should be able to pollinate each other because they're all gonna flower basically at the same time in the spring.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So and you carry things like you know, you can order uh staghorn sumac and things like that. Because uh sumac's another potential medicinal tree with uh the sumac berries and things like that. And those are options that people can come and order?
unknown:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, very good. That's correct. Yeah. Uh usually in Maytime, I'm usually got trucks coming in on a regular basis. So if anybody needs anything, I can just throw it on the next truck.
SPEAKER_02:So when does somebody need to order a specialty uh tree like the apple tree I just mentioned or things like that? How far ahead do you have to order it in order to get it?
SPEAKER_05:So I usually do most of most of my pre-books in October for the following spring. Oh, really? That far ahead. However, when spring is rolling, providing it's still available at one of the nurseries, I can still bring it in.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So now here's another one, and I don't have the the the Latin name for it, but it was a story that I told. I was up doing a speech in Thunder Bay, and I happened to be with the uh the CEO for the town of uh uh the city of Thunder Bay, and he asked me, Well, what are you doing tonight before your event tomorrow, Jerry? I said, No, I got nothing planned. He said, Why don't you come over? We're having a blooming tonight. I said, What? He said, Yeah, we're having a blooming tonight. And I said, What's a blooming? He said, Well, my plant's gonna blossom tonight, and if you want to come over and see it, it's kind of spectacular. I'm like, what are you talking about? Anyway, so um he had a night blooming primrose that blooms after dark, and you can tell, and it was it was you're sitting there and all of a sudden you just watch, and it just kind of unfolds in front of you. It was it was really interesting. So is that something that you're able to order as well?
SPEAKER_05:Uh night blooming peak uh primrose is is a little bit more difficult to find, but yes, you they are available.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was I was I was shocked. So I I got some seeds at that time, but but but uh for some reason and I gave out all kind of plants to all kind of people of it because once they saw it, they thought it was spectacular to see. Actually, I was uh I was at a show and shine, a car show that they do every Wednesday, and all the the car buffs were there, and they said, Oh, come on, Jerry, uh says, Yeah, you know, you come on with us. Uh we're going out to this uh I can't remember the name of the bar. I said, Yeah, sure, I'll I'll come by and I'll say I just got gonna stop at home first. So what time you so I showed up there and I checked, and lo and behold, one of my potted night blooming primrose was about to to uh to open. So I brought it with me. And they're all like, What are you doing? And I said, I got this night blooming primrose. And they said, What? I said, Yeah, it's gonna open tonight. They're like, What are you talking about? This is, of course, a bunch of car guys, not plant guys. And they're like, and to this day, which is probably, I don't know, maybe 15 years later, they still talk about it because it opened up in front of them and they thought it was such an interesting thing to see, and it actually very much is. But it was a nice thing. So those are the sorts of things that you can you can get.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, back in 2016, Frank and I had a vision to amass the single largest database of musky angling education material anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER_01:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
SPEAKER_04:Thus, the Ugly Pike Podcast was born and quickly grew to become one of the top fishing podcasts in North America.
SPEAKER_01:Step into the world of angling adventures and embrace the thrill of the catch with the Ugly Pike Podcast. Join us on our quest to understand what makes us different as anglers and to uncover what it takes to go after the infamous fish of 10,000 casts.
SPEAKER_04:The Ugly Pike Podcast isn't just about fishing, it's about creating a tight-knit community of passionate anglers who share the same love for the sport. Through laughter, through camaraderie, and an unwavering spirit of adventure, this podcast will bring people together. Subscribe now and never miss a moment of our angling adventures.
SPEAKER_01:Tight lines, everyone.
SPEAKER_04:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER_02:And now it's time for another testimonial for Chaga Health and Wellness. Hi, it's Jerry from Chaga Health and Wellness. We're here in Lindsay with Tula, who is actually from Finland and uses Chaga. Tula, you've had some good experiences with Chaga. Can you just tell us what that experience is?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I got sick with fibra, and uh one weekend my husband came here alone. I was home. And uh he brought your um your leaflet.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And I read it, and I said, next weekend when we go to the market, we're gonna buy some. And so we started putting it in our morning smoothie.
SPEAKER_02:Ready?
SPEAKER_00:And um among a few other things that I was doing because of that the chaka has been the steady one.
SPEAKER_02:Ready?
SPEAKER_00:I wouldn't uh wanna live without it. Yeah, so it's been working for me.
SPEAKER_02:Very good.
SPEAKER_00:Lots of ways.
SPEAKER_02:And you had uh some good luck with blood pressure as well.
SPEAKER_00:Alright. Yeah, thanks for remembering that. That's uh yeah, I had a little bit of high elevated blood pressure, and within two weeks of starting that every day, every morning, uh it went to normal.
SPEAKER_02:And you think the chaga was the reason why?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I didn't do anything else in that time free.
SPEAKER_02:Very good. And so how much chaga did you have and how did you have it?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we just put that powder in the smoothie.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. And uh it's about tablespoon. Yep. No, it's less than tablespoons. Teaspoon. Yeah. So you don't need that much.
SPEAKER_02:Right. About a teaspoon, yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Very good. Well, thanks for very much for sharing that. We really appreciate that, and wish you all the best with the chagga. Oh, you're from Finland as well. And chagga's pretty popular in Finland, is it not?
SPEAKER_00:I think it probably is because there's some professors in a university that uh teaching it and um talking about it, and of course it's speaking Russian.
SPEAKER_02:Right?
SPEAKER_00:Because that's very, you know, the Northern English that can come from.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and of course Finland has lots of fruit trees.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And it's the only mushroom that you can't forage. Oh, very good. Well, thanks very much for sharing that. Okay, have a great day. We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, Chaga Health and Wellness.com, place a few items in the cart, and check out with the code CANAPY, C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package, and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening. Back to the episode now, Adrian, what type of plants do you have that would be Christmas plants kind of thing?
SPEAKER_05:So there's a fairly long list of Christmas plants. Of course, your most popular one is the poinsettia, um, which is native to Mexico. Um, they come in, there's probably a hundred different species of um poinsettias, um, all sorts of different colors, shapes, sizes. Um, that's your most popular one.
SPEAKER_02:So I I know I've seen red ones and white ones. Do they have other colors that I we don't normally see here?
SPEAKER_05:Yep, there's marble, there's uh burgundies, there's off-white, um, and then there's is some of the princetias, which give you really hot pink, light pinks, um, a couple of different shades of reds. Really? So many different varieties and colors.
SPEAKER_02:So, and how do they I know because I hear different things. And I've kept uh we have one plant that we've repotted a couple times. We picked up a new one again this year, just in, I don't know, what is it, a four or five-inch pot that'll eventually get repotted. But the larger one I have is probably in a what is that, a six, eight-inch pot, probably. And I kept it um through the through the entire year for the last year, maybe two. How do you get the leaves to turn red or the various colors that you just mentioned?
SPEAKER_05:So it's actually a um you need a dormant period where they're into the the um more dark period. And then when you introduce them in the late fall to the bright light, that's when your leaves will color up.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. And so that works like uh, I guess an attractant to to insects for pollination. Is is that why they color up, or is it is is it just getting ready for Christmas?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, no, it is an attractant.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And so uh point set is uh that's probably the number one one that you would see around. But I know a lot of people have something they call Christmas cactus.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:And tell us about Christmas cactuses.
SPEAKER_05:So they're really easy to look after. Most people seem to panic over plants and that, but they're actually a fairly easy plant to grow. Um you can pretty much ignore them all year long. Um, they only need a little bit of water once in a while. They do prefer to be in a sunny location. Um and usually if they're if you fertilize it mid-November time within about two weeks, you you actually get some buds off of it and it's ready for Christmas. And you can do that again Easter time as well.
SPEAKER_02:What sort of fertilizer are you giving it, Adrian?
SPEAKER_05:Uh you can do a 20-20-20. It's a good all-purpose fertilizer for anything.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so for our listeners who aren't plant people, what's 2020-20 mean?
SPEAKER_05:Uh, it's uh phosphorus potash, and the other one just fell out of my head.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:So it's a good all-purpose. We use it here in the greenhouse.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. 2020 20. Yeah, and you mentioned potash. Well, my son uh Garrett, who's who's been uh on the podcast with me numerous times, uh, he actually was working in the potash mine in Saskatchewan, which was a huge um operation. I mean, we were looking at uh the the he's a steel worker and so what that means is he works rebar and they do the the base for these factories in production and it would be for I guess the size of about uh 15 or 20 hockey arenas would be the size of the uh base that they were doing for this potash mine. And obviously that's what they use potash for is it works as great as a fertilizer, yes? Yes. Yeah, very good. So, Adrian, what other kind of Christmas plants are there? You mentioned there's quite a few, and most of them uh um people probably call them poinsettas, is poinsettia and a Christmas cactus are a couple, but what other ones would there out be there?
SPEAKER_05:So frosty fern is another good one. So that's a nice little um fern that likes to be on the moist side. It has little frosted tips, so it looks it's it's a nice lime green and has white frosted tips. Very cute little plant. Um, it does not like to dry out though.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so how hard are these sort of plants to keep?
SPEAKER_05:As long as you're keeping it moist, and the frosty fern doesn't like to be in the hot blazing sun. Okay, so it likes to be on the moist side.
SPEAKER_02:So when people water, because I water very differently than my wife, what I do is I take the pot and I set it basically between the two kitchen sinks and I pour water in it uh until it runs through, and then once it stops running, I put it back wherever it was in the sun or on a plate or whichever. Is that is that a standard way for most plants, or is there different ways for different plants?
SPEAKER_05:That is the standard way for something like a frosty fern, um, lemon cypress, that sort of thing. Um there's other plants that don't like to be that wet all the time, which is uh something like a cyclomen. So cyclamen is is officially a a bulb, um, and it does not like to be wet because it'll rot.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. I don't know cyclomens at all. And something else on Facebook I see fairly regularly from some of them that uh or is it on television? I can't remember for sure, maybe a combination of both, where the Christmas cactus they were advising to give it milk. Is that something that you've seen before or heard of?
SPEAKER_05:I have heard of that before. It's it's something that we don't do here, but yes.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And so what does one do with these uh plants for the poinsettias, for example? Once the winter's over, do you put them outside and how often do you water them? Is it okay? Do you replant them and things like that?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, some people like to keep the uh poinsetters and they have very good luck keeping them alive. Most people do not. Yes. But yeah, you can move it out to an um outside area for the season. Uh just make sure you get it back in before it turns too cold, because they do not like the cold at all.
SPEAKER_02:Aaron Powell Okay. So um when you say they don't like the cold, uh we're talking obviously make sure it's not out there for a frost, but how cold is cold for a plant? I I don't know.
SPEAKER_05:Um so they will not take a chill at all. So for as far as poinsettas go. So you you would have to bring that back in at least by the end of September.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay, the end of September. That's good to know. Now, one of the other things is most of the poinsettias that people get, they usually come in a pot that has this kind of uh usually it's red aluminum foil or something like that around it. Is that something you should take off or leave it on? Because if it holds the water in when people are watering it, as as individuals do do that I know, uh, and then the water sits in there, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
SPEAKER_05:No, that's a bad thing. The the poinsetters they they can be very tricky. They do not like to be wet. They prefer to be more on the dry side. Um, so yeah, whenever you're watering the poinsetta, you should take it out of its container, whatever it may be, um, to water it. And really you shouldn't be watering it to the point where it's running out of the bottom. It's it's too much for it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And how can somebody, people who are not plant people, tell when you need to repot the plant and and how big a pot do you put it in? I mean, I've seen some people that go from a four-inch to an eight or a ten-inch pot right away. How big and how how can you tell?
SPEAKER_05:So one size at a time when you're when you're repotting. Um, usually on any plant, when the lower leaves start turning yellow and dropping at a fairly rapid rate, it's usually time to transplant it up. You could also tell by touching the top of the soil. If it's still nice and soft and spongy, you're okay. If it's harder, it's time to transplant it up. And yes, one size at a time. So if it's in a four-inch, you're gonna go to a six-inch, from a six-inch to an eight-inch.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And if it uh, because the the one we've had for a couple of years is probably in an eight-inch now. Um what happens if we just leave it in that pot and don't put it in a larger one later on? Will it uh affect the plant or will it not grow anymore? Or how does that play out?
SPEAKER_05:It will it will start affecting the plant, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it will.
SPEAKER_05:If it becomes potbound, yes, it'll it'll start struggling. Okay, what does potbound mean for our listeners? Potbound is that you've got a massive root base and not enough soil, so it can take up nutrients and that from the soil.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So um and is it something that if you when you take take it out, like normally what I do is I I let it dry out a bit so it comes out in one solid mass when you're replanting, right? Um that way the the the soil doesn't fall off off the roots if it's too moist, as in some cases that I've seen. Uh but not too, too dry, so that it is the same thing doesn't happen that way. But can you break off roots to to so it's not pot bound and put it back in that same plant?
SPEAKER_05:Well it depends on it depends on the plant. Generally, what I recommend when you're transplanting, if it's a large mass root bait uh around the edge of the the uh pots, then you I usually recommend that you just massage that root ball open. Try not to disturb it too much, but you need to re uh massage some of the outer roots just so that they can actually get themselves out into that new soil when you're planting them.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Now the the roots that you you're taking off, can you use that to start another plant with?
SPEAKER_05:Generally not, it depends on the plant.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. I I wouldn't know. I'm I'm not a a plant person, uh, enough of a plant person to be able to know. So there are some plants you can take roots, um, as in rhizomes and things like that, which are basically underground.
SPEAKER_05:Something like a something like a sansivere and all that, you can.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. So tell us a bit about the lemon cypress you mentioned.
SPEAKER_05:So they're actually uh a little evergreen. Um, they have a really nice um scent to them when you rub them. They do have that lemony scent. Um they usually come cut like a little Christmas tree. Um, you can use them for some people use them to make um the Grinch trees. Oh, yeah. Because you put a bobble on the end and you wrap uh the lights and the wire around it so that you get that nice little curve at the top. Right. Um, it's actually a very popular tree for Christmas.
SPEAKER_02:Oh how big is that? How big is that?
SPEAKER_05:So we carry them in a four-inch pot, so it's gonna be about eight inches tall, and then we carry them in a six-inch pot. They're usually about 14 to 16 inches tall. Um but and you can keep those. They will not survive our winter outside, but you can use them outside for the the season as well.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, interesting. Okay, and what are some of the other uh Christmas plants that uh people can can look forward to or come and see you and find out details about?
SPEAKER_05:So we do um rosemary trees, we do lavender trees. Rosemary, you can that they're basically done for the scents. Lavender's good to have in your house regardless. Rosemary you can use. You can trick keep it trimmed and use it in your cooking.
SPEAKER_02:How big do the rosemary? Now, is a rosemary plant different, like a bush different from a rosemary tree?
SPEAKER_05:No, it's the same thing. It's still rosemary. They they just trim it up so that it looks like a little Christmas tree for Christmas and you can keep it trimmed.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Because I know I grow rosemary in pots outside. Um and I use the uh the the leaves for cooking and and things like that on a regular basis because rosemary actually has a significant amount of uh medicinal applications as well. Um yeah, when uh I talked about my dog uh Gunner, we actually put rosemary, a heaping tablespoon, in his uh food uh for medicinal applications there. So rosemary. So the rosemary I have outside, though, uh it came back from last year. So uh which plants would be perennials or which ones would be annuals?
SPEAKER_05:So they're all the rosemary are a perennial. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:And just so our listeners know what the difference is between a perennial and an annual, or a semi-annual.
SPEAKER_05:So perennial is gonna come back every year. Right. And an annual you have to plant every year.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Very good. So rosemary, interesting. So now the rosemary I have outside, that's obviously when you get minus 14, minus 15 last night. Um, if I brought that inside, would that revive it or would that uh not work or how?
SPEAKER_05:No, I wouldn't work.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Just checking. Okay, and what other ones? Uh you mentioned the lavender trees as well.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, we do also do those for Christmas as well. Same thing. They're cut into a little Christmas tree shape, um, and and they are great for the scent and that they help, you know, with uh stress and they help you sleep at night. So if especially if you put it in your bedroom, right? The uh the scents in that help you sleep. Okay. It's a calming. Lavender's calming.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. Yes. Uh now I have a plant that I was given. It's actually a, I don't know what you call it. It's just a bay plant or a bay leaf plant. Bay leaf, yeah. Um, and it's about 20 inches tall, but it's I think it's in about a six-inch pot. When should I and how do I I I brought it inside for the winter. Correct. Um, and do you can you tell me much inside? What do I what do I feed that and how often do I water it and things like that?
SPEAKER_05:So again, for the winter time, just bear in mind that plants don't do a lot of growing in the wintertime, so you always need to water less in wintertime. Okay. So if you were doing it, you know, twice a week outside, you won't need to do it twice a week when you bring it inside.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So now this plant um obviously used bay leaf for a lot of cooking and things like that, because it has medicinal applications as well. Um how how many leaves can I take off, and how do I use a lot of those leaves uh effectively without hurting the plant?
SPEAKER_05:Generally, if you take from the bottom, your new growth is still gonna continue at the top.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. And is there a kind of percentage you like if if I'm 20 inches, uh, would I take four or five leaves off, or what can the plant sustain without causing it uh to to to kill it?
SPEAKER_05:Oh yeah, you could probably take four, five, six leaves off if you need them at a time. Very good. All right. Well that's good.
SPEAKER_02:So Adrian.
SPEAKER_05:Plants are pretty adaptable. What's that? Plants are pretty adaptable that way. Right. As long as you're not cutting the the uh you know your main top off. Right. Use from the bottom first and let it continue to grow.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so but it's it's like a single stem plant, this uh bay leaf plant. So it's just one kind of shoot. It doesn't have off branches. Is that normal? I because I've never had one before. Somebody gave me this and I thought it was pretty good. I was very interested in it.
SPEAKER_05:So if you if you want off branches in this in the um springtime when it's starting to put out new growth, if you actually take the top off, it will actually put two to three shoots out from the side, and you'll get a fuller tr uh plant that way.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, is is that the norm?
SPEAKER_05:Is it better that way, or is there better that way because you're gonna get more from it? And and bay is slower on the growing side. Right. So you need to get it a little bit thicker.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Very good, interesting. Huh. Okay, so what other kind of uh Christmas plants uh can you let us know about or uh and things like that?
SPEAKER_05:So there's another one called Winterberry.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_05:Um, so it's uh from the Holly family. It's a cute little uh lush green plant, uh flowers up white and then has um berries on it, red berries. And and they come in white and pinks, and but winterberry is generally the uh the red one. Is they look great in a Christmas planter. Are the uh berries edible? Uh no, it is, it will upset your stomach. And yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Okay, winterberry, interesting. Yeah, and you put uh and you can you can kind of join a lot of these different plants in a planter and they get along fine.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. So you can do your um poinsetti, you can do your um your lemon cypress, your winterberry. Usually when I when it's in a mixed planter like that, I usually recommend that you put water the other plants other than the um uh poinsettia.
SPEAKER_02:Oh very good. Okay, and so like you mentioned about the food, so 2020-20 for all of them. Yes. And and only if you watered, uh you should water, you mentioned, twice a week in the summer, once a week uh this time of the year. And I guess it depends. Like I don't know if you caught earlier on where I talked about the the uh fireplace insert that I put in. The house is pretty dry at my place.
SPEAKER_05:Right. So then you would have to check your watering a little bit more often, depending on the plant.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. All right.
SPEAKER_05:So and your pointsetta won't won't like being by the fireplace. Okay. They're pretty particular. They don't like giraffes, they don't like to be by a fireplace or on top of the fireplace while they're taking the extreme heat.
SPEAKER_02:So it's a plant with attitude, is it? It is. Yeah. Okay. So, Adrian, tell us about Christmas trees and itself. You have uh cut Christmas trees there?
SPEAKER_05:Well, we don't sell cut Christmas trees here. We only do artificial.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. So you have artificial trees. So can you tell us uh for those people that uh do pick up trees and cut trees? I gotta get one for my mom very shortly. Mom's 91 years old, so uh we get her out and uh pick a tree. Um about the different types of Christmas trees and and what one can do to keep it uh uh the leaves on or the needles on for extended periods of time.
SPEAKER_05:So whenever you go to the market and you pick up your Christmas tree, before you bring it into the house, give it a fresh cut at the bottom so that it can drink the water. Because of this, the if you don't do that, the sap has already sealed that cut off and it won't drink the water.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. So you gotta make sure it doesn't dry out at the bottom then, right? Correct.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so once you've given it a fresh cut and you're putting it in your your stand and you you're keeping that ref refreshed with um with water, and some people use brown sugar in their water too.
SPEAKER_02:I have not heard of that. What what does brown sugar do for it?
SPEAKER_05:It just it just helps that uh sappy sweet yeah, drink it out.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, really? Okay. Now, what about fertilizers in your water when you're with your Christmas tree? Is that a yay or an A?
SPEAKER_05:You don't need to.
SPEAKER_02:No? So it won't help keep the leaves on at all.
SPEAKER_05:There there is the uh the Christmas tree, you can get the Christmas tree um liquid that you can use in your Christmas tree, but it's not necessary. As long as you're keeping that water to it and it keeps it doesn't dry up, then you're generally okay. So it's so it's just a matter of checking your Christmas tree every day and making sure that it hasn't drank all the water that's in there.
SPEAKER_02:Right. So if you cut it in the bottom, what happens if you take some of the bark off the sides? Does that aid in in absorbing water or not? So like you you do your bottom cut, and then if you like just shave the bark off around the bottom of the tree, will that aid in it taking up or will that make make no difference at all?
SPEAKER_05:No, it shouldn't make a difference, really. It's drinking directly from the bottom.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Okay. Now I have a friend, Greg Binions, that uh uh he's a bit of a uh uh he deals in a lot of unusual um discoveries. So one of the ones that he had was a it was a device that put air in at a nanobuble level with water. Okay? So what happens was uh you can basically add oxygen. So if you to give an example, if you took a glass of water and actually add it just three-quarters full instead of full, and ran it through this device which uh injects air at a nanobuble level, it would fill the glass up right to the top. You'd pick up that much just because when you look at it, it looks like normal water. The only difference is that at this nano level that it's increased the amount of air inside that. So, and I know that a lot of so one of the sales things uh pitches, whether it's true or not, was that uh you can oxygenate a lot of the plants by doing this. Is oxygenating the water when you put it in make a difference at all?
SPEAKER_05:It will, because all plants need oxygen.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Very good. So I hope my wife guess what? My wife is gonna listen to this because she thinks I'm crazy. So most people don't know this. When a stream, when you see water going down a stream and it goes over rocks and that kind of bubbling, that's actually oxygenating the water and putting oxygen in for the fish.
unknown:Right.
SPEAKER_02:So what I usually do is I'll take water and I will pour it back and forth to oxygenate the water before I pour it in the Christmas tree so there's more oxygen in it. And quite frankly, to be honest, we leave our tree up for like a month and a half. And I think it helps, but uh my wife thinks I'm a little bit out there. So so oxygenating the water will actually uh essentially help quite a bit in in uh making sure the tree's longevity is there, yes? It will help, yes. Oh, very good. What other kind of uh things can people do to to make sure that uh their their trees last longer if it's a freshly cut tree?
SPEAKER_05:Um it uh so some of it's gonna do deter on your um the temperature of the house. If you can keep the area cooler where the tree is, that's gonna help not dry it out so fast.
SPEAKER_02:Right. What about uh spraying water, like misting water on the needles? Does that help or not?
SPEAKER_05:It will help, yes.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, it will. Okay. Very good. I I don't do that. Right. Uh yeah. So because we've, you know, as I mentioned, we've got this fireplace insert and it's in the same room at Oxa, opposite end of the room, so it's like probably oh I don't know, 20, 25 feet away.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so you're far enough away from the fire that you you're okay. But if you're setting it right beside the fireplace, you're gonna dry out faster.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. And this year, so this year we got a spruce. Most of the time we get a fir tree. Is there uh suggestions on which ones hold their needles longer?
SPEAKER_05:So again, that's gonna depend on you know doing a fresh cut and keeping water to it. Um balsam fir is pretty popular one, you know, because it's got uh a fairly strong scent as well. Yes. And most people want that nice Christmas tree set scent in the house.
SPEAKER_02:Yep. Yep. So and for myself, um, I have some uh every time I had a pine tree, uh, if I'd scrape the needles on me, I'd I'd uh have a bit of a reaction. So we don't have pine as a house. We always have normally we have a fir, but this year we got a spruce. So I'm hoping it lasts. Otherwise, I may hear about it from my wife. Because we keep them up as long as we can. Uh, but uh because we really enjoy the Christmas, uh, and the Christmas season is always very special. And having a tree is how our our season usually starts. So uh let's see, was it uh a week ago today was when we put the tree up. And uh Josh comes out and we uh freshly cut it and then we get home and and then I use this uh actually I used a it was a little handheld kind of a chainsaw thing with a six-inch like bar on it to to re-cut it and to cut the tree, and it works spectacular for limbing and taking up uh the bottom uh leaves and things like that. So uh we start that's how our Christmas usually starts, and we're up ahead, and it's going great, and love to see that there. And what other so there's different types of furs, I believe. Is there's uh what is it, a Norwegian fur as well?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, there's there's noble fur, there's Douglas fir, there's Frasier fur.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and uh basically all the furs hold their needles about the same length of time? For the most part, yes. Aaron Ross Powell Okay. Very good. All right. Well, what other sorts of Christmas uh plants and things can you uh inform us about, Adrian?
SPEAKER_05:So most of the other Christmas plants, I think we've covered most of them. There is another one, and I actually just got it back in stock again today, and it's called an ardesia. Um coral berry berry. Some people know it as the coral berry. Um it mostly it's it's in some locations it's an evergreen. Um the leaves look similar to a holly, um, and it has all the berries on the bottom.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Very good, very interesting. Well, Adrian, uh, we really thank you for taking the time to be on the podcast. But how can people get in touch with you or find out more information about uh where you are and and the great uh plants and services that you provide for people out there?
SPEAKER_05:So we're located at 1979 Highway 2 uh Bowmanville in Ontario. And the phone number here is 905-623-4441, and I'm usually here every day.
SPEAKER_02:Very good. Well, Adrian, thank you very much. I found it very informative. I learned quite a bit about the uh the various Christmas plants because basically it was Christmas cactus and the poinsettias that I knew about, but all these other ones I find very interesting. And I'm gonna tell you that my wife and her sister may be in uh Baba, maybe even tomorrow or or next week. And if she does come by, I'll get her to kind of stop by and say hi to you. Perfect. Sounds great. Well, thank you very much, Adrian. Really appreciate that. And it's just uh a little Christmas thing, and Merry Christmas to all and all those individuals out there on a Hafian Sape holidays. And thank you for your time, Adrian. I wish you all the best. Just something a little bit different out there under the canopy.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you so much. Merry Christmas to you.
SPEAKER_09:Now, you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast.
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