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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Fran Sorin
Aired July 13, 2002 - 09:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: With dry conditions, I bet it's been wreaking havoc on your garden. And we want to bring in a garden expert now, Fran Sorin is joining us from New York to tell us all about it.
And Fran, good morning to you...
FRAN SORIN, GARDENING EXPERT: Good morning.
JERAS: ... thanks for being with us.
SORIN: Thank you for having me. It's great being here, and we got wonderful weather today in New York.
JERAS: I know, great day to get out there and get dirty in some of that dirt.
First of all, I see some beautiful flowers in front of you. Is -- what is the one key? Is there one key in terms of making your garden good for drought conditions? Is it buying the plants...
SORIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
JERAS: ... or your soil, what?
SORIN: Indeed. Oh, there's so many things. So let's get going.
JERAS: OK.
SHORES: We -- first of all, there's a whole category, contrary to popular belief, but there's a whole category of drought perennials, drought-resistant perennials that will give you garden a boost of color and punch and an abundance of shape and texture throughout the summer months.
And you can plant throughout the summer months.
Now, a good place to go is on the House and Home content on MSM, and they have a whole list, because you want to check for your geographic area. You are -- we call it...
JERAS: Right.
SHORES: ... the USDA Zone area, which perennials are correct. Now, I've brought here today just to show you folks, because I'm from zone 6, and these are some of the great perennials that I'll be planting in my garden this afternoon, believe it or not.
Let me just go through them quickly. This is Calamagrossis (ph). This is the feather -- I'm sorry, Calamagrossis Carl Foster, which is a great grass, and they get huge.
JERAS: (UNINTELLIGIBLE), yes.
SORIN: Yes, gets huge. And it will be brown and spiky in the fall. Phlox canniculata (ph), which is all of us, from our grandmother, we remember the smell, it's delicious. And they have a whole new strain that's mildew-resistant.
JERAS: Aren't there a lot of different varieties of phlox?
SORIN: Oh, hundreds, literally hundreds, with all of these guys. And that's why you really need to get online and check it out or go to a good nursery.
One little tip here, make sure that these guys always, always have the tags in there. Don't buy a plant without tags, unless you're really -- unless you're a seasoned gardener and you know. Let me...
JERAS: And those tags will tell you, too, whether or not they're drought-resistant plants, won't they? And if they need...
SORIN: Well, not...
O'BRIEN: ... sun and shade and...
SORIN: Well, yes, the difference between sun and shade indeed. But the difference between drought-resistant, that's -- you really need to trust a nursery person or, as I said, I found on House and Home on MSM a lot of good drought-resistant perennials for different locations of the country.
Now, let's go over here, the biarro (ph). And everybody knows...
JERAS: That's beautiful.
SORIN: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- Isn't that great?
JERAS: Yes, I love the color.
SORIN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the color, right. Velvet Queen. This guy's going to bloom for you straight through the fall. You're going to have that red going, and then this one, I'm moving quickly, because we have a lot to discuss, the Coreopsis, and this, again, this is a new color, it just came from England, it's from -- all you gardeners out there will know Bloom (ph), Alan Bloom and Adrian Bloom. A lot of people know the yellow. It's called Moonbeam.
This new one, and I wrote it down, is Limerock (ph) Beauty. If you don't have it at your nurseries, ask for it. This is going to be blooming straight through the fall.
And then of course over here we have these dainty little flowers. And I think this was the perennial plant flower of the year of 2002, pincushion, Scabiosa (ph). But on your...
JERAS: All right...
SORIN: Isn't that great?
JERAS: It is great. Fran, let's assume we've got the drought plants that we need. What's the next step? A lot of people...
SORIN: Next step.
JERAS: ... are under water restrictions. What can you do to keep these going?
SORIN: OK, well, first, let me just pull to this. It's very important to have good soil. And I want to show you what good soil looks like. I know us gardeners keep in saying soil, soil. We call it good as gold. It's black, it's crumbly, it's rich. Most people have problems because their soil's either too sandy or too claylike. What you want to do is add compost, add organic matter, add humus, get good topsoil. That soil is going to help your plants keep on going. It's not just the watering. Now...
JERAS: Now, how do you maintain that? Do you have to continually add to it occasionally, or do you do it...
SORIN: Yes, yes.
JERAS: ... once and...
SORIN: No, no. You do it once a season, but it's -- you know, a lot of this is common sense, and it's like cooking. You can follow the recipes, but then you have to get the feel, and it becomes instinctual. And quite frankly, it's also your time restraints. I mean, I have beds at my house that should have been done. But I'm a gardening expert.
Let me show you an important point here, if you don't mind.
JERAS: OK, we're running out of time...
SORIN: When you're (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
JERAS: ... so real quick there.
SORIN: OK. Well, let me show you quickly, then. Let's go to the watering, because water conservation -- and there are great tips on House and Home. It's called Waterwise Techniques on House and Home on MSM.
Do not, please, there are three things. Do -- water slowly, don't go out. I see these guys coming home from work, and they're spritzing like crazy on their trees. And I'm thinking... JERAS: I do that.
SORIN: ... they're -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you can't do it any more.
JERAS: OK.
SORIN: Get a drip, get a drip hose. Do it deeply, do it a few times a week. The drip is really a great way to conserve. Use when you plant your stuff new. Use a sprinkling can, and with all of these guys, after two weeks, you should not have to water. Use common sense. That's the key here. Don't water...
JERAS: Two weeks and no watering at all?
SORIN: Yes, yes, yes.
JERAS: Really?
SORIN: Isn't that great? You know, (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...
JERAS: That's my kind of gardening, Fran.
SORIN: They are. And you will have such lushness and beauty and such a punch that people are not going to believe you're living in the drought of 2002.
JERAS: All right. Some great advice. Fran Sorin, thank you so much for joining us...
SORIN: Thanks, thanks for having me.
JERAS: ... this morning.
SORIN: It's a blast.
JERAS: Great tips. Two weeks, and no watering.
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