What's in a Name Game

Posted by Tony Bielaczyc

Andrew, Stacey and I love hearing from listeners. It makes us feel like we're really there with you all and we get a big kick out of hearing about everything that's going on, in and around your gardens. However, I sometimes feel like AB and Stacey have a stronger level of recall and better memories than I do. (Must be all those Ginkgo biloba brownies they're always munching on!) They're far less apt to feel any twinges when someone calls with a plant id question. Like when Darla Steinborn from Louisiana called into Morning Living a couple of weeks back to ask about an overgrown ornamental blocking the way to the front door of her place. Stacey, the indefatigable plant id person at MSL was ready with the right name. Or, so she thought...

Darla described to Stacey the plant in question as having sets of leaves like an outstretched hand, pointed with shiny surfaces and big. Beyond wanting to know the name, Darla hoped to cut back the beast and make the way to her door open and available once again. Could she do this without killing the thing, she wondered. Stacey paused for a moment and answered, chaste tree plant, Vitex agnus-castus.

Vitex is a favorite of ours here in Garden. Easy, drought tolerant once established, adaptable to sun or shade, hardy for Z6-10, it's got leaves that are big and dark green on top with a silver cast underneath. They have a sage-like scent that makes them very unappealing to all but the most starved of deer. And if it gets too big, you can cut it nearly to the ground in very early spring for a full flush of new growth each year. Oh, AND, it's got long tapered spires of flower, flowers, flowers that are a favorite of bees and butterflies with varieties in a range of deep to lavender blue and onto silvery-white. There you go, Darla, cut away and enjoy! She thought the case was closed until Andrew and I went back to the radio studio that afternoon for the Thursday edition of Homegrown.

We're there blathering on about something horticultural, when a call comes in from a listener named Darla in the great state of Louisiana. How can we help? Darla says she called that morning to ask Stacey for some help with a plant id and what she thought was the answer isn't. Andrew and I look at each other with furrowed brows of incredulity. Stacey got the id wrong? Our Stacey, the plant detective? we thought. 'Tell us more' we asked. Shiny leaves, again. 'Are the leaves joined at the base or separate smaller leaves?'. Joined...I see a bulb go off over Andrew's head. RICE PAPER PLANT beams down from above.

He says 'Rice paper plant' and looks at me with his hand moving around and around searching for the botanic name. TA-DAH, Tetrapanax papyriferus, of course, I chime in. (Must a had a ginkgo brownie!)

And why not Tetrapanax? Darla is in Louisiana, clearly a Zone 8-9 region, so it's a cinch that Darla can use a number of plants that we, up here in Z5, think of as houseplants outdoors in her outdoor landscape, including Tetrapanax. And it's got some big leaves (sometimes 15" across), joined at the base, shiny for sure and this baby can get 15' in size.

Done deal, Darla. And she thanks us for the help. Andrew and I have a bit of that 'We're fabulous' glow on and head back to the office only to look in our Homegrown email mailbox and find that Darla has sent us a message saying it's not rice paper plant after all. Now, all three of us are pissed. This is it. We're figuring this out, do or die. Smart girl that she is, Darla included several shots of the beastie and she wasn't kiddin'; that thing is BIG! Stacey digs in and finds out what it is. Fatsia japonica, Japanese aralia.

Andrew promptly sets fingers to keyboard and let's Darla in on the true name of the plant she has and that she can cut that thing right down to her preferred size without any harm to the Fatsia at all, just one of the blessings of growing this beauty.

A collective sign of total, final accomplishment goes out from all three of us. All in a days work at Martha Stewart Living, from your garden editor friends in print and on the air. So, keep those questions comin', folks. We're all of us ready!

Giving back to the troops.

Posted by Katie Macpherson

Did you know that today over 1.4 million men and women serve in the U.S. armed forces, and over 24 million veterans have served in the past? In honor of Veterans’ Day, Morning Living decided to share some ways that you can support our troops. One great way to share some love is to participate in this year’s American Red Cross’ Holiday Mail For Heroes Program. From Monday, November 2 through Monday, December 7, you can send holiday cards to service members by mailing them to this address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
Check out the program’s website for complete details.

And, if you’re interested in sending care packages to troops, here are some websites that can help you do that too!

Give 2 the Troops
Operation Gratitude
Packages from Home
Operation Shoebox

Word of the day: menagerie.

Posted by Marc Bailes

If you have a wide variety of things and need to bring them all together with just one word, try menagerie. It applies to a collection, but only a very diverse one. Seashells in general might not fit the bill. Unless you’re talking about a large collection that has large ones and small ones, old and new, gathered from beaches near and far.

Originally, the only things being collected were animals. And a menagerie wasn’t much of a mixture at all. In fact, it was a bunch of animals of one particular type, gathered for a specific purpose, like an exhibit.

Consider the same word in modern French, where it’s occasionally used to mean “zoo,” though in a figurative sense. The convenience of a menagerie was that they could be eat and sleep together and be trained on the same schedule. This was all a convenient way of housing a group of animals. Housing is the key part, and it’s the root of menagerie. Even in modern French, ménage means housework or a household. Listen carefully and you’ll hear that ménage is related to mansion, another household word. So the focus shifted from people to animals, from animals of one type to a zoo, from a zoo to diverse collection of anything. 

Photo courtesy of Animated Picturebook.com

Quality Wines for Less Money

Posted by Jon Costantino

Today on Morning Living, wine expert Marnie Old,  (author of "Wine Secrets: Advice from Winemakers, Sommeliers & Connoisseurs”) took suggestions for your favorite quality wines that are priced between $10-$15. In return, she offered her insider tips on similar wines for our listeners to try. Here’s the full list-- and Marnie’s personal picks for Rieslings as well.

Listener Suggestion:                                  Marnie Says Try:

Sutter Home Moscato                                   Moscato D’Asti

Clean Slate Riesling                                     S.A. Prum “Essence” Riesling

Hayman & Hill Chardonnay                           Wente Chardonnay

Fish Eye Merlot                                           Tin Roof Merlot

Haut-Marin White Bordeaux                           Tariquet Cotes De Gascogne

Red Diamond Merlot                                     Hogue Merlot

Pepperwood Grove Chardonnay                     Concannon Chardonnay

 

Marnie’s Favorite Rieslings

Dry – Jacob’s Creek “Reserve” Riesling

Off-Dry (Sweet) – Rosemount Estate Traminer-Reisling

Sandy's Peanut Butter Sandwich

Posted by Sandy Gluck

No secret here -- ever since I was a kid, I loved peanut butter! It's my breakfast, my go-to sandwich, snack, you name it. Sometimes I like to jazz it up and that's what I did for today's sandwich.

Growing up, several of my friends couldn't eat a peanut butter sandwich without a couple of slices of crisp bacon thrown in. It's a super combo and I decided to riff on it. Last night, I seasoned a hunk of boneless pork shoulder with cumin, coriander, paprika, a little sugar, and coarse salt and roasted it until just done. This morning I thinly sliced it and packed it on a ciabatta slathered on one side with chunky peanut butter, on the other side, hot pepper jelly and in between, sliced cukes, and arugula. Now that's my kind of sandwich. Have you got a favorite peanut butter sandwich combo?