You’re tired. You’re hot. You’re yearning for autumn to set you free. But how your garden looks right now has everything to do with the choices you made in past planting seasons and a lot to do with foliage.

Have you capitalized on the resilient summer foliage options that keep working when the lobelia has melted and the poppies are so over?

This week on The Garden Mixer, Leslie and Marianne explore six of their favorite foliage plants for summer — each choosing a perennial, a shrub, and a tender perennial (aka ‘temperennial’) — and then choose their favorite option from the suggestions sent in by listeners on The Garden Mixer Chat on Substack.

Overall, the girls are in remarkable agreement this week…except for one, notable exception.

What are we looking for in summer foliage? Are flowers a necessity or a bonus? And, how many times, precisely, should a gardener kill a plant before giving up?

All this and Leslie learning the meaning of FFS, on this week’s The Garden Mixer.

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Full Show Notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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They’re deer resistant, drought resistant, and boredom-resistant — and they’re not without controversy. Ornamental grasses might be the magic texture your garden has been missing all these years.

Whether you want to ‘blur and merge’ as per Grasses for Gardens and Landscapes author Neil Lucas, or ‘punch and soften’ as per the more violent of your two co-hosts, Marianne Willburn — using ornamental grasses strategically can help your garden relax and sway into summer, filling gaps, feathering edges, and giving you three-season architecture without the bagworms.

Join Leslie and Marianne as they share with listeners their top ten ornamental grasses and discuss why they are willing to risk censure and scorn for more than one of them.

Plus, Marianne confesses to a criminal act. And it’s not displaying her bare over-50 arms either.

Leslie’s criminal act this week is using the term “Tips and Tricks” before Marianne takes a sip of something that can help her cope with hearing it.

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer |Podcast on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Full Show Notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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You’d like to go on vacation. Your family wants you to go on vacation. But you don’t know how to leave your garden. So you don’t go on vacation.

Wrong answer.

You NEED a vacation. You just need to prep your garden and make it Vacay-Ready.

This week Leslie and Marianne dive into what it really takes to leave your garden without the guilt. From prepping your plants to prepping your mindset, they want to help you take a break without sacrificing your blooms.

Whether you’re heading to the beach or taking a long weekend right in the middle of the growing season, you can come home to a thriving garden. With the right prep, your beans will be just fine.

All this plus the puzzling but indisputable link between testicles, armpit hair, and tomatoes.

It's another wildly inappropriate episode of The Garden Mixer, so carpe your diems and get that garden Vacay-Ready!

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Be sure to hit the subscribe button so we can keep you smiling while you hit the mess [your garden] out there.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer |Podcast on Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Full Show Notes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Garden Mixer Podcast’s Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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