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DIGGER DIARIES | FEBRUARY

Jessica Russell Hilton

No Time to Garden? Here's How to Have a Beautiful Yard Anyway!

With Torrey Hollingsworth of The Landing Plant & Feed in Brandon, MS

Torrey doesn't get a lot of time away, but occasionally there is a conference at a beachy locale!
Torrey doesn't get a lot of time away, but occasionally there is a conference at a beachy locale!
Torrey Hollingsworth has figured something out: A beautiful yard doesn’t have to take a lot of time. He should know. Torrey owns The Landing Plant & Feed in Brandon, Mississippi. His busy customers are at the ball field, in the office, and on the go. Yet they still want a yard full of interesting plants.

It’s a tall order, but one Torrey has learned to fill. In this month’s DIGGER DIARIES, Torrey shares his top-five easiest plants to grow in Zone 8. Plus, how to keep them healthy when you’re short on time. 

Putting down roots in landscaping
Torrey started his first landscape business in high school. Then, he got a landscape degree. “I’ve always wanted to own a nursery and garden center since I was young,” he shared.

He realized that dream in 2017, when a small garden center with a feed-and-seed came up for sale. “We’ve grown tremendously over the past seven years,” says Torrey. 

One thing that hasn’t changed since his earliest days in the business? “I’ve always bought Loamate since the early 2000s,” says Torrey. As Torrey will later explain, part of the secret to a low-maintenance lawn is choosing the right soil mix.

Helping people solve problems
As much as Torrey likes plants, it’s his way with people that his customers connect with. He says what he enjoys most about his work is helping people solve problems. One problem he hears the most? “People don’t have time to work in their yard. They’re busy with kids, and school, and sports,” Torrey observes. 

Topping off with mulch doesn't just look nice.  It helps reduce time spent weeding and watering.  For even more benefit, use Penick Organics Flower & Garden Mulch.  It provides bloom enhancing nutrients for showy flowerbeds all season.
Topping off with mulch doesn't just look nice. It helps reduce time spent weeding and watering. For even more benefit, use Penick Organics Flower & Garden Mulch. It provides bloom enhancing nutrients for showy flowerbeds all season.
Understandably, his customers often ask for hardy plants they won’t have to fuss with. Plants that stay low-growing without being pruned. And? Plants that also have good color. Impossible? Not for Torrey. Over the past five years or so, he has carefully honed his go-to list of plants for busy families in the Deep South.

Torrey’s top five easiest plants to grow in Zone 8
Crunched for time, but craving more than just a cookie-cutter yard? These are the top five plants Torrey recommends for a low-maintenance landscape in central Mississippi. Disease resistant? Check. Minimal pruning? Check. Exciting color in all four seasons? Check and check!

Two of Torrey's favorite low-maintenance plants  -- Vintage Jade Distylium and drift roses for a backdrop for a flower bed freshly prepped for seasonal annuals with Penick Organics Loamate.
Profusely blooming Drift Roses require minimal care and maintenance in exchange for long-lasting (and fragrant) colorful blooms.

Drift roses. Fragrant Drift roses display all the color of a rose bush, with a fraction of the maintenance. “They bloom all summer, you don’t have to deadhead, just keep them fertilized and they’ll stay beautiful all the time,” says Torrey. Naturally low-growing, Drift roses rarely need pruning. In mild winters, these semi-evergreen shrubs may stay green all year.
Two of Torrey's favorite low-maintenance plants -- Vintage Jade Distylium and Drift Roses form a backdrop for a flowerbed freshly prepped for seasonal annuals with Penick Organics' Loamate.
Two of Torrey's favorite low-maintenance plants -- Vintage Jade Distylium and Drift Roses form a backdrop for a flowerbed freshly prepped for seasonal annuals with Penick Organics' Loamate.

Sunshine ligustrums. “The bright yellow color gives a little bit of pop in the landscape with a different contrast,” says Torrey. This compact, evergreen shrub provides year-round color with minimal upkeep. Once established, it’s drought-tolerant, resists pests and diseases, and grows quickly—to a low, manageable height.




Distylium ‘Vintage Jade.’ “We sell tons of Distylium ‘Vintage Jade’—it’s a Southern Living plant,” says Torrey. In contrast to the bright yellow sunshine ligustrum, Vintage Jade Distylium has a bluish undertone. It, too, is drought-tolerant once established, disease resistant, and requires little pruning. Conveniently, Distylium ‘Vintage Jade’ tolerates a wide variety of soil types, and grows in full sun to part shade. 

Muhly grass. Although they do die back every year, this ornamental grass remains green from March to December, with a misty, pinkish-purple bloom in October and November. “Cut them back in February every year, a foot off the ground,” says Torrey of the one annual chore that keeps this hardy Southern native looking its best.

Camellia Sasanqua 'Shi Shi Gashira'  is a compact camellia with beautiful pink blooms in late fall to early winter.
Camellia Sasanqua 'Shi Shi Gashira' is a compact camellia with beautiful pink blooms in late fall to early winter.
Shishi Gashira camelliaCamellia sasanqua 'Shishi Gashira,' best known for its splashy late-fall flowers, is a slow-growing, dwarf evergreen shrub attaining a mature height of about three feet. “Around Thanksgiving to Christmas, if you have company coming to town, they’ll be blooming for you,” says Torrey. 

So, you have the right plants. Now what?
When it comes to establishing a low-maintenance landscape, picking the right plants is just the beginning. The way you plant them in the ground—from the size of the hole, to the quality of the soil—could make or break its survival and overall hardiness.


The top 3 mistakes when planting shrubs (and how to avoid them)

Mistake #1: Skipping soil prep
One fast way to kill a shrub? “When people plant in the dirt and don’t amend it,” cautions Torrey. The fix? When you shop for trees or shrubs, purchase soil amendments, too. “Typically, we mix in Loamate. I think that’s what everything needs in the shrubbery world,” says Torrey. 

The reason? “Loamate has so much more nitrogen—the cotton burr compost mixed in, the plant life. The success rate for new plants is so much higher [when we use Loamate] because it has nutrients. It’s not just sand and bark,” he says. 

Technique matters, too. Torrey starts by putting a 1” high layer of Loamate around the area where the shrub will go. Next, he says, “Mix it in with the existing dirt—don’t just back fill the hole! Chop it up with your shovel. You’ll have air pockets, but the Loamate bonds it all together, so you get the right texture, plus nutrients.”

Mistake #2: Planting too low
A lot of people mistakenly think a shrub’s root ball needs to be buried below the surface of the ground. In truth, it needs to rise a little higher. As the old saying goes, “Plant them high and they won’t die. Plant them low and they won’t grow.”

“I always leave the root ball of the plants about half an inch to an inch high above the ground, but make the dirt meet back to that root ball and cover the root ball with half an inch to an inch of dirt on top of it,” explains Torrey. Use a light hand. “Adding too much dirt on top can suffocate the plant,” he warns.

Mistake #3: Forgetting to fertilize
After planting a new shrub, “two or three months down the road, fertilize!” says Torrey. This fast, simple task makes a dramatic difference. As Torrey explains, skipping this step won’t save time in the long run.

“Again, everyone’s busy; we’re always busy! But if you replace one dead bush, you’ve already bought a bag of fertilizer,” reminds Torrey—not to mention the time you’ll spend replacing that dead plant!

“That’s the key. If you start with a good soil mix and fertilize twice a year, your plant material will stay green and thrive,” Torrey says.

When life gets busy, there's nothing like stepping right outside your door to a beautiful, relaxing space--even if just for a few quick sips of coffee before the day begins!
When life gets busy, there's nothing like stepping right outside your door to a beautiful, relaxing space--even if just for a few quick sips of coffee before the day begins!

It’s Grow Time!
What do you say? Did any of Torrey’s top-five plants pique your interest? No matter where your busy life takes you, we hope it leads home to a yard you love at the end of the day.
Meanwhile, you can count on independent nurserymen like Torrey to keep listening and responding to the needs of his shoppers. And you can count on us to keep making the highest-quality soils and mulches we can. Because that makes gardening easier for everyone!
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5734 MS Highway 145
Macon, MS  39341
Phone:  662-726-5224
Fax:  662-726-9417
email: penickorganics@gmail.com
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