Transcript
Alexis: I just need to share this little piece of information with ah you all and the wonderful listeners out here that you...
atack2010: You should.
Brett: such urgency yeah you were you didn't commit a crime did you because i don't want to know oh okay okay sorry
Alexis: you it well When you hear it, you'll you'll understand.
atack2010: Yes.
Jessica : Your breathing kind of heavily.
Alexis: did bunch pro Do No, listen.
atack2010: That thing is an accelerant.
Jessica : Are you okay?
Alexis: It's about cheese, people.
Jessica : Blink twice.
atack2010: That's why she's breathing heavily. She always does not smell cheese.
Jessica : It's cheese.
atack2010: Always.
Alexis: Listen, do you know how much protein is in Parmesan cheese?
atack2010: Did you say wood fiber or protein?
Alexis: Like it's a lot and I just feel like protein in Parmesan cheese.
Jessica : You know what?
atack2010: Okay.
Jessica : That makes me feel so much better after feeding my children spaghetti and just piling that Parmesan cheese on top.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah.
Brett: no Getting gains.
Alexis: I have a, I have a block of Parmesan cheese and for ah for my breakfast as my snack during the day.
Brett: Every morning.
Jessica : for breakfast.
atack2010: Seven o 'clock.
Alexis: And i I suddenly feel so much better knowing I'm getting so much protein in this little chunk of Parmesan cheese.
atack2010: It's the 6 .34, gentlemen.
Brett: And I'm jacked.
Alexis: I'm having as my little, little snacky snack during the day.
Jessica : Oh, nice.
Alexis: And it's like, who needs, who needs protein bars when you could just have Parmesan cheese?
Jessica : You could just eat a block of Parmesan cheese.
Alexis: That's what I'm saying. ah black of parmean cheese
Brett: Well, I'm imagining you go into the like go to the gym, like the bros have shakers that they're shaking up their pre -workout, but yours is yours is just one of those shakers of Parmesan cheese.
Alexis: as
Alexis: Yeah, just have like my Yeah that I just I imagine me like bringing in like but's ah Isn't there a comedian bit that's something similar like
Brett: And you shake it and then you just take it, and you then you cough and it just like ah pat like a dust dust out into the, whoa.
atack2010: You like use out. I love it.
Brett: I don't know.
atack2010: There's lots of means where people are doing challenges.
Brett: There is, yeah, there is, I just did it actually.
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Oh, right.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: Sorry, Brett. Sorry.
Brett: There is, it's very fresh.
Alexis: No, I just imagine me like walking into a gym, you know, with my gym bag and just like a, like a half a wheel of Parmesan cheese, just kind of like eating it off, off the wheel.
atack2010: Yeah.
atack2010: You say your cheese bag or gym bag.
Brett: Off the wheel.
Alexis: Like I have a separate bag.
atack2010: I walk into the gym with my cheese bag.
Alexis: It's called my cheese bag.
atack2010: Yeah, I love it.
Brett: It's the cheese bag.
Alexis: Yeah. I just needed everybody to know that.
Brett: Yeah. You can grate it onto a plate and there's no one there to tell you, you no one know to tell you to stop.
atack2010: and
Jessica : That's important information.
Alexis: To stop.
Brett: Like that's not enough actually.
Jessica : It's like going into Olive Garden and then the poor waiter is just like standing there and they keep like putting more cheese and it's like, keep it coming.
Alexis: Keep turning. you
atack2010: They think that you didn't hear them when really you did, you're just waiting.
Jessica : Keep coming.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah, I just want a mountain of cheese.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: They're like, yeah but tell me when.
Brett: You may want to have a reserve on hand because your arm is going to get tired.
Alexis: Just, you know what, leave it at the table.
Jessica : It's unlimited, right?
Alexis: Just leave it at the table.
atack2010: Leave the grinder, leave the grinder.
Alexis: Leave the grinder like leave the bottle, but it's leave leave the grinder So anyways, I just wanted to share that because I don't feel like ah My wonderful life partner appreciates that information as much as he should so I thought you the listeners will ah So, there you go
Jessica : Leave the block of cheese.
Brett: leave the grinder.
atack2010: Hoagies and grinders, nobody remembers that.
Brett: So what the what the bond of marriage could not achieve the bond of podcast has of ah affirmation about the Parmesan, the protein content of Parmesan cheese.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Brett: And even Parmesan cheese could not make throwback to last episode, could not make candy corn good.
atack2010: No.
Jessica : oh
atack2010: I'm glad that there are others that share my disdain for that culinary failure.
Alexis: He's such a hater. I just want to like, what, but like, okay, when's the last time you had candy and corn?
Brett: I try it every year to remind me of the rage that I feel.
atack2010: On purpose, there's sadness, sorrow, and regret.
Jessica : they
Alexis: I don't believe you.
Jessica : They have different flavors now, too, of candy corn.
atack2010: There's only three flavors.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : oh Oh gosh.
atack2010: you
Alexis: I hate that you - I hate that how good that was. I'm so mad about it.
Brett: The rings on the candy corner to remind you of the circles of a hell that your area Dante's candy cone But it yeah
atack2010: Yes, it's Valentine's candy corn.
Alexis: Jessica, I thank you for not hating candy corn with me.
Jessica : Yeah. I'm like, I'm like on the fence about it. I like will have a piece. And like I told you, I'll eat it with some peanuts and it's nice. My husband loves it. He buys tons of it. And of course my two boys love it because it is pure sugar.
atack2010: Yeah, you know, sometimes the little pumpkins, if they're fresh, like I don't like actively throw up in my mouth with the little pumpkins, like I get a fresh one.
Jessica : Oh.
Brett: ray Ray, don't go back on it now. We have drawn a line in the sand.
atack2010: No, no, I'm not going back on candy corn. The only thing they're good for is making vampire fangs under each gum.
Jessica : You know, a lot of people use it for decoration, have you noticed that?
Brett: I do like the aesthetic of candy corn a lot.
atack2010: I do.
Brett: I love the way it looks.
atack2010: Because when I get a bag, I throw it out in the yard and it looks great.
Alexis: Okay.
Brett: like you you eat eat with and With candy corn, you you eat with the eyes first and then you stop.
Jessica : We throw it in the yard.
atack2010: Yeah, I just throw it in the yard.
Alexis: I, uh, in October, I start making candy corn color, like themed bouquets.
atack2010: It's very colorful, Brett. Yeah.
Alexis: So it's like white, orange, and yellow flowers.
Jessica : oh
Alexis: There's a divide.
Brett: Yeah. I like, I like, I love the look. I love the nostalgia. I wish they were good, but I'll do it on the podcast.
Jessica : You'll have to get like the caramel apple ones.
Alexis: I just, can I, I want to be present for your 2024 trying of candy corn.
Brett: How about that?
Jessica : OK.
Alexis: Okay, okay.
Brett: I won't, I won't chew into the microphone because I know people hate that, but I will.
Alexis: Well, you know, maybe it's an ASMR moment, so.
Brett: I don't think so.
atack2010: that Gagging is not an ASMR moment.
Brett: I think that that's mis of misophonia. Is that what that's called?
atack2010: yeah
Brett: And when people hate like the sound of like mouth noises and stuff.
Jessica : Hmm.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: It's a whole genre of ASMR.
Jessica : Yeah.
atack2010: It's called marriage, right?
Brett: This is negative though. Yeah. This is like, they'll, they will cancel us and give us a zero star review.
atack2010: we we we We cannot afford that.
Brett: So, but you know, I like that.
Alexis: But speaking of colors, candy corn, I was like waiting.
Jessica : Yeah, there you go. Connect it.
atack2010: Right into it.
Alexis: I was like, he will not steal this from me.
Alexis: that The colors of candy corn often remind me of the colors of fall trees, of of the splendor of autumn.
atack2010: You should not have it.
Brett: I will not, I will not. I stand down.
Alexis: And I don't know about you all, those yellows and oranges, maybe a little bit of purples and reds thrown in there.
Jessica : It is reds. It's prime time.
atack2010: Yeah, all the good stuff.
Alexis: We're talking about fall trees today. If you haven't figured that out, fall colors.
Brett: Fall color.
Brett: You know I'm a tree, I'm a tree boy.
Alexis: So who can explain why leaves change color in the fall?
atack2010: Oh, the color is always there.
Alexis: Who can give me the science?
atack2010: And I love that fact.
Alexis: Oh, shocker.
atack2010: The colors are always there.
Alexis: Mic drop.
atack2010: Yep. that's That's the one. i When we do programs with kids, it's hard to make them believe that. I'm like, no, no, it's like so many things in life. It's kind of in layers. It's always present.
atack2010: It's just that the dominant color associated with chlorophyll just subsides at a point.
Alexis: And it subsides because the tree stops making food.
atack2010: Yes, it's a...
Alexis: And so it's like, I don't need this green chlorophyll no more.
Jessica : food
Jessica : Because it's getting cooler, right?
Alexis: Let my true colors shine.
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : Because it's starting to get cooler, right? And it's telling them it's time, time to change.
atack2010: We talked a lot about seasonality on this show. And this is a perfect time to say it once again. ah But it has to do with that. Different plants have different seasons. And it just so happens here in Kentucky, a lot of our plants are very heavy on the seasonality.
atack2010: So you have lots of trees that are not stopping, but slowing down all in winter season, ah day length and temperature.
Jessica : Uh huh.
Alexis: pulling those sugars down into that root system, pulling them down and exposing.
atack2010: Yep. Really, it's just the trees being beautiful for us, Alexis. and That's truly what it is. Don't get all biological.
Alexis: Okay, get in your feels about it.
atack2010: Thank you. Thank you.
Brett: Yeah, if it if it was all this functional and as you informational process, why would it be so beautiful for just no reason at all?
Alexis: um love
Jessica : But then
Alexis: Because the anthocyanins say so, that's why.
atack2010: A little
Brett: Yeah, I think the the the real the real magic is like the way that our brain finds it beautiful.
atack2010: bit of science. and
atack2010: Yes.
Brett: You know, it's like this is this thing that they're just doing.
Alexis: That's true.
Brett: And
Alexis: I mean, have you ever met somebody who's just like fall color is ugly?
Jessica : I just live in life.
Alexis: I don't think you have.
Jessica : No, I haven't.
atack2010: I've never heard that before, Alexis.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: I was less impressed by with it with it when I was a kid.
Jessica : I've heard, heard people complain about leaves, having to pick them up afterwards, but that's good too, right? Just let them, let them be, let things overwinter in them, let them break down and provide nutrients back to the soil, right?
Brett: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah, that's ah that's great news for eco -friendly people.
Jessica : Some organic matter.
Brett: That's great news for lazy people. I happen to be both of those people.
Alexis: effects.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: So like picking up a bunch of leaves and and moving them for me. And now I'm not a turf grass guy, Ray.
atack2010: I was going to say, don't let a mat down on your 3 -inch, like, wet, heavy mat on your lawn if you want to.
Brett: You can't see it, but Alexis is covering her face in rage at just the thought of selectively choosing turf.
atack2010: Yes.
atack2010: Everybody has a multi -mower now, so yeah.
Alexis: Although I will take your leave.
Jessica : I will, I, my favorite quote is as long as it's green and a reasonable height, I'm happy. So you can imagine like my lawn at home might just be all wild violet or other things.
Jessica : And I'm fine because it's green. So the leaves aren't going to bother me if they're out on my lawn.
atack2010: Whatever your preference, yes.
Brett: But the other the other type of of ah more out there garden with the leaf stuff is if you have a moss garden, you don't really want leafies on top of it.
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : True, true.
Brett: But they don't have a whole lot of people with moss gardens out there necessarily. But yeah, I have a little some little patches of moss that I've been cultivating, but it doesn't stay quite wet enough back in back in my
Alexis: That's the dream.
Alexis: Especially during a drought.
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : Alexis and I have visited someone's house before who had a moss yard. It was pretty magical.
Alexis: Wait, whose house was this? I mean, I was like, was it Kay's?
Jessica : Yeah, yeah.
Alexis: Okay. All right. I just want to make sure I was like, wait, was I there?
atack2010: How was you, Alexis?
Alexis: Do I remember?
Jessica : Yes, you're the one who took me there.
Alexis: She lived on the river.
Jessica : Yeah, she's right on.
Alexis: So that was why.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, it was all shade right on the river.
Jessica : Lots of moisture.
Alexis: So plenty of moisture for your moss garden.
Brett: Well, how about this for some fall color or some you know winter fall changing color? For me, one of the interesting things that I've noticed more in the last few years ah The fault this fall transitional period of September October is really important for bonsai in a number of ways but the change in color of ah Conifers and evergreens that it's it has evergreen, but there's so many different greens and Whether that be fading to more of like a kind of a purplish dark green Or whether that be some of the cultivars will actually go to this like bright crazy yellow in
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
atack2010: ah Sure. Mm hmm.
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
Alexis: Chartreuse.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: Yeah, chartreuse, if you're into fishing. I always think of chartreuse as like a little lure. like ah like That's the first time I ever heard that color.
Brett: ah And I think that that is another aspect of, we talked about, I think a little bit on the transitioning to fall episode, but just noticing those shifts and changes in something that is allegedly static and it's not static at all. I've noticed some pine cones starting to either form and some of them opening on some of the trees around here. Yeah.
atack2010: yeah
Alexis: Little baby pine cones.
atack2010: I always think it's interesting how you know you get the fall leaf color prediction models and I'm always kind of a nerd for that sort of stuff because I do love the fall season and all the colors that we have here.
atack2010: in our transitional zone, six and seven. ah But it is must be, I mean, it is very difficult to predict. You know, we get the question a lot, is are we going to have fall good fall leaf color this year?
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
atack2010: And I have never seen, I've seen people that are good at it. They use scientific modeling, weather data. You try to look into the crystal ball and see when the first hard frost is going to be. But you put all those factors together, you know, and then add in, you know, average tree age and and all of these other things.
atack2010: It's really hard to predict. uh, what kind of overall fall leaf color you're going to have. And I'm always looking at the model, just curious. I'm like, should I go north now or should I go to the smokies now?
atack2010: Some of these hot leaf looking spots.
Alexis: Mmhmm.
atack2010: And it's just, it's really tough. Uh, and it's frustrating for me because I want to know the week to go. I want to know the best three day span. but But it's really difficult to predict that.
atack2010: I know here in Kentucky, we've had extended dry spells here in the last little bit.
Alexis: Mmhmm.
atack2010: And I know that does ah have an impact on certain tree species that are, there's some trees out there that's been dropping leaves for a while now.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah, we've really noticed it in our area where Alexis and I are that there's a lot of trees already dropping leaves or changing color early um just because it rained like once in the last month.
Alexis: Mmhmm.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : So it's been pretty dry and hot.
atack2010: Yeah, especially younger trees, we're getting lots of calls, you know, from, it's not necessarily about leaf color, but lots of folks that have, you know, trees under, you know, five years old, you know, three to five years old, and they're saying, well, what's wrong with our tree?
Alexis: Yeah.
atack2010: It's dying. Well, if it's not watered, it may just be that it's really dry and it's kind of naturally shutting down.
Alexis: Mmhmm.
atack2010: It may not necessarily be dying, dying, but a lot of these trees are kind of shutting down. They don't have extensive enough root systems to sustain them.
Jessica : I have a baby burroke that's doing that right now.
atack2010: Yeah, it's terrible.
Jessica : It literally has three leaves left and I've been watering it through the summer, but I'm just like, Oh no, baby burroke.
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : Hold on. And so I continue to water it with its tiny three leaves that it has left on it.
atack2010: Yeah.
atack2010: Is it one that's been planted or is it just like a young seedling?
Jessica : I planted it two years ago. So I will see.
atack2010: been planted Yeah, gotcha. From an acorn?
Jessica : Uh, I know I bought, bought a tree that would be magical to plant it from an acorn though.
atack2010: Gotcha. Oh, that would be neat, yeah.
Alexis: XD Mm -hmm.
atack2010: But I noticed that lots of leaves are on the ground. I always look when I'm out in the woods kind of walking and lots of crunchy out there right now, even though our leaves technically haven't, you know, started.
Alexis: and
Jessica : speaking, speaking of like magical trees, right?
atack2010: yeah
Jessica : um You know, we actually have like a publication, well, not publication, but like kind of a UK press release that kind of says like, Oh, here's some awesome places around Lexington or other places that you can find.
Jessica : like really good tree color. um Is it Maxwell maybe? Or they give a different road where they have all the big ginkos that line the streets.
Alexis: Mm hmm.
Jessica : And in, as we all know, ginkos, something, they're truly magical when they all turn that bright yellow and they all believe start falling.
atack2010: Yeah, all at one time.
Jessica : And it's just like all at one time, right?
atack2010: It's the whole thing, yeah.
Alexis: It's just like a carpet overnight.
Jessica : Right?
Brett: I believe I believe the tree ironically, the or the street ironically, where all the ginkos are is called Catalpa.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Jessica : Oh yeah, Catawpa Road.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: Which is a different type of tree.
Alexis: Yeah.
Brett: ah For the for those at home.
Jessica : Yeah.
atack2010: All together.
Brett: ah Yeah, I was gonna say something about the ginkos because people go sicko for ginkgo in the fall people on Instagram walking through I'm sure the people on that street are like, we had not we didn't know this many people lived in Lexington until till this day.
Alexis: Mmhmm. Yeah, yeah, all photographers are there.
Brett: What about, what about favorite maple fall color?
Alexis: Oh, specifically.
atack2010: Just make them.
Jessica : This maple.
Brett: Yeah, you got silver maples, you got red maples, you got sugar maples, you got amur maples, you got maybe some Japanese maples mixed in, but that's kind of hard because there's so many weird cultivars with a variety of colors.
Jessica : h
atack2010: I'll re -up this one for you, Brett. i' and Because it has to do with color.
Brett: Oh yeah. Mm.
atack2010: ah But we were just talking about, you know, going how to predict and find like the best color. But I found that I've noticed for years, and especially with the maples, I will look for maples of a certain age. You know, when I know that a forest fires burned heavy through an area of the mountains or the woods, and you have trees coming back in succession, you know, that are six, eight years old, there is nothing more beautiful than maples that are six, eight years old, naturally, that have come up after forest fires, or or maybe there's just a a bunch of young maples in an area.
atack2010: There is nothing more vibrant than any type of maple of a young age. They are always the most beautiful color. um As far as there's just something about the way they turn, it just looks like they're on fire.
atack2010: They glow in the woods when you see these young maples that are, you know, six, eight, 10 years old.
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Alexis: Yeah, they're like iridescent almost.
atack2010: They do.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
atack2010: It's just, it's absolutely phenomenal. And of all of those, I guess I'm going to be vanilla here. I'm going to be show my pumpkin spice latte. I'm going to say sugar maple.
Brett: I feel like that's a slightly less vanilla choice. I feel like red maple is the most vanilla choice.
atack2010: Okay.
Alexis: Yeah.
atack2010: okay
Jessica : Because there are so many red maples planted, right?
atack2010: okay Okay. There's some different ways.
Brett: Yeah.
Alexis: yeah
Jessica : So I would go with sugar maple dough, too.
atack2010: Yeah.
Brett: but But the red maples are like spectacular.
Jessica : I think
Brett: They're so cool that it's like, I don't, nah, I'm bored with how amazing this is.
atack2010: ah Some of those are just so, so red that it's, they don't look real, they look fake.
Brett: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: It's so uniformly red.
Brett: How would you describe the color the fall color of sugar maple?
atack2010: I don't know, it's just a softer, it's, ah there's gradients in there is what I like about it.
Jessica : oh
Brett: Mm.
atack2010: That's what I like about ah sugar maples. um You know, we've talked a lot about like the yellows, and probably my least favorite. I'm bearing off of here a little bit. I base everything on probably, um
Alexis: Mm hmm.
atack2010: like a water maple. you know You mentioned the different types of maples or the silver maples.
Alexis: Mm hmm.
atack2010: um they they're little They're my least favorite.
Jessica : Oh.
atack2010: They're like, I don't know, do they're kind of yellowish, dirty yellow.
Jessica : A doll like a doll.
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: Dull, yeah. And then you progress all the way through to the oranges. You pick up the reds and then the different types of all the way up through the red maples. They can be, those red maples is not red, is that correct?
atack2010: That don't look as red as there are other other colors.
Alexis: Thank you.
Brett: Definitely. There's so many different cultivars.
atack2010: Yeah. But like the yellow is what I love.
Brett: of
atack2010: You guys already mentioned ginkos, but the maples that have that yellow color, I really like those. That's why, you know, I'm picking not the red maple for my favorite.
Jessica : ah
Jessica : Something that, oh, Alexis, you want to go?
Alexis: I was just going to say, I have two, some, the person who owned this house before me, uh, planted red maples around the house, but there's also a big, very old, um, sugar maple.
Alexis: And so it's like, you get the kind of yellow in between the two red and I have a red, like an old brick farmhouse with a red roof.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: And it's, it is really special just because they're like kind of the only red trees in the area, uh, as you like kind of drive down the road.
Brett: how How dare you be so picturesque?
Alexis: It's pretty picturesque. There's like, because it'll be yellow and green everywhere.
Brett: I'm mad.
Alexis: And then there's just bright, fiery pops as you kind of pop over the hill. And so, you know, it is pretty special. um Just saying.
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: The sugars are one of those that that they vary so much too.
Brett: Mm -hmm.
atack2010: I mean, I'm trying to think of different sugar maple trees, my favorites, and one of them's an orangish, and one's more yellow.
Jessica : That's like, I have two at my house and they're more yellowy orange, right?
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: They're chameleon.
Alexis: Mm.
Jessica : They're more that orange color.
atack2010: When people describe those, they describe them every everywhere, from red to pure yellow, and they're all correct. That's one of the reasons I love them.
Jessica : h
Alexis: suspicious
Brett: You know, if you're a fan of something in that ballpark of kind of a creamsicle to golden rod, a small tree, small tree shrub that doesn't get a lot of love necessarily, the Washington Hawthorne.
atack2010: They're chameleon.
Alexis: to whatever they feel.
Alexis: oh
atack2010: Huh?
Alexis: ah
atack2010: Oh, wow.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: beck spectacular fall color. ah It looks kind of in my in my experience, the ones that I've seen they look sometimes they look like a small sugar maple in the fall if you get the ones that yeah.
atack2010: ah
atack2010: Oh, nice.
Alexis: Hmm.
atack2010: Of course, aspens.
Alexis: Yeah.
atack2010: I mean, if you're in different parts of the country, if you're where there's aspen groves, they can be interesting. um The beaches are are neat. um The ones that like hold on to their leaves for so long.
Alexis: A little spookies, a little forest spookies.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
atack2010: Yes. And they rattle and carry on. You get that nice, beautiful, we talked about like fall, you know, plants for fall interest in the winter. They have that white bark and then they hold onto those brown leaves and it's, uh, they're very nice in the fall too. I love those.
Jessica : something I've noticed since moving to our farm that I've always liked, but I didn't realize how vibrant they could be a sassafras.
Alexis: Mmm.
Brett: a
atack2010: Oh yeah.
Jessica : So like, so well, the ones that we have are like red, like they're so, so bright red that they catch your eye and you're like, what the heck is that over there?
atack2010: Yellow.
atack2010: You can make those different too, yeah.
Brett: ah
atack2010: Mm -hmm.
Jessica : Right? And I have like trekked across the field to be like, what is this plant?
atack2010: They'll have a gradient of color in those.
Jessica : Do I not know how to ID? And then it'd be a sassafras.
atack2010: Mm -hmm.
Jessica : And just so, so bright when that sun hits it and just really catches your eye.
Brett: Hmm.
Jessica : It's so pretty.
Brett: Have you ever done any like tea or anything with the sassafras?
atack2010: Mm -hmm.
Jessica : I have not.
atack2010: I've done the bark, went through this whole extractive process of using the bark for sass frass tea before. Pretty interesting, very tasty.
Brett: Was it worth it?
Alexis: When...
atack2010: ah It was because the tree had fallen naturally and, you know, we used to gather a lot of herbs, you know, just, you know, for money off the farm, we had lots of different things in the mountains, but sass frass is one of those that you could sell sass frass leaves for pharmaceutical purposes.
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: And then not to waste a tree because, you know, we would do lots of stuff with, there wasn't anything wasted. But one of the things that grandmother would want was the bark off of that to make sassafras tea. So yeah, I think it was worth it.
atack2010: That's probably the first tea I ever had was sassafras tea. It was very good stuff. Yeah, but sassafras is one of my favorite trees. I love the smell of sassafras and the color in the fall.
atack2010: That's a good one. Yeah.
Alexis: That's like thinking back to like my some of you know your first experiences with plants. And um I remember my parents had like this little plot of land on Cumberland Lake, just like, I mean, it was probably like a quarter acre and it was, had nothing on it. And we would just like go tent camping there.
Alexis: And I remember like we'd go out and find sassafras and make sassafras tea over the campfire.
atack2010: Oh, nice.
Alexis: And I just thought that was like the coolest thing when I was, you know, seven.
atack2010: Yeah. Well, it is the coolest thing, absolutely.
Alexis: And yeah, yeah, I like looking back, like thinking how my mom kind of came up with that. And I don't know.
atack2010: That's awesome.
Alexis: It's it's fun that you mentioned that. But speaking of like tea fall color, can we talk about the sumac for a second? Because, uh, like.
atack2010: Mm, that is a good one, yeah.
Alexis: You see sumacs in the fall?
atack2010: And the berries along with that too, yeah.
Alexis: yeah Yeah, they're so, I think, underappreciated.
atack2010: So. It's almost like a cornucopia vibe for me, because you combine the berries with the colors. They look so cool when the when they really have big pods on there.
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
atack2010: They can be very showy. Even naturally, out in natural stands of those, they can just be they they can look so awesome.
Jessica : Mm
atack2010: And I hadn't thought about that one. That's a good one.
Alexis: Yeah, and when they all, they're all like clustered together, you know, and they're, they grow in such, um, you know, random, I mean, they're not technically random, but places where you don't usually see like trees, right?
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : -hmm.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: Like they, they stick it up and it's kind of some unrulier places. And so you get this like really special pop of color.
atack2010: Yeah, kind of early successionary understory trees.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. And kind of these, uh, areas you wouldn't expect them to look nice. Uh, so.
atack2010: Yeah, persimmon is another one that I love in the fall. I love it because it's got that complex um orange and yellow coloration. It's not one color usually for our native persimmons, but you know, I like persimmon.
Alexis: Hmm.
atack2010: It's one of my favorites. It's a smaller tree mid -story and it's one that I really enjoy is persimmons.
Jessica : One, the um ah city of Harrodsburg, maybe we're going to overplant because we've all, I'll love it and keep using it, but it's surface berry, right? Because it's one of those natives.
atack2010: oh yeah that's a great
Jessica : It can be like shrub or you can have it like in a tree form. It has beautiful white flowers in the spring, berries that you can eat as well. You can beat the birds, but the fall color can vary from like this orangey, yellow, like really nice pop of fall color.
Alexis: Mhmm.
Jessica : And I assume it probably varies based on like whatever cultivar or whatever that you're getting. But they're nice.
Alexis: Mhmm.
Jessica : like You're looking more for like a shrub or a smaller tree to add to your yard.
atack2010: Oh yeah, that's a great. who
Jessica : That's a native as well. It's a very pretty fall color with that one.
Brett: Yeah, so if you've got a space where you don't want to put a tree, we've got, ah you just mentioned service barrier, Lexus shouted out Sumac and I shouted out ah Washington Hawthorne and the Cretaceous stuff is all three. like I think shrubs, is shrubs, native shrubs, especially like that, are are so underutilized, it feels like, or it's just kind of like, they don't get the love like the big trees do or that the small little plants do, so.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: Shout that out. Well, what about a color that's maybe a fall color that's um not so pleasant? ah all my My white pine is turning kind of yellowish color right now. Is it dying?
Alexis: Just losing those needles, baby.
atack2010: Maybe.
Jessica : Yep.
atack2010: There's season two.
Alexis: They get old too.
Brett: Yeah, not it's not yet. Give it a couple of years, it will be dead. But didn't before then, yeah.
Alexis: no
atack2010: ah Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, if it's a white pine, it's dying, but you know, not today.
Brett: So this time of year, kind of late summer into fall starts losing those needles.
atack2010: Yeah.
atack2010: Needle cast. Yeah.
Brett: Cause that's, you know, some of them, some, some pine trees actually hold onto the needles for a really long time.
atack2010: Yeah.
Brett: Most of them around here, though, not as as long.
atack2010: yeah
Jessica : Mm hmm.
atack2010: I mean,
Brett: Apparently there's like some bristle cones out in the like high, whatever they'll keep, keep needles for like 20 years.
Jessica : Wow.
Alexis: Wow.
atack2010: They have optimum growing conditions. It's insane that they would hold on to their needles like that. I mean, it's just incredible.
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: We just don't see that in Kentucky for our trees.
Brett: Yeah, we're moving it we're we're moving moving nutrients through.
atack2010: Yeah.
Brett: we're you know It's not not quite the slow process.
Alexis: ah Our trees go through a lot in Kentucky.
atack2010: Making way.
Alexis: Let's just.
atack2010: Something's always making our our our evergreens lose needles for good or bad reasons. So yeah.
Alexis: Yeah. Is there a, uh, I know we talk about, we talk a lot about like reds and yellows and oranges, but man, when you see one of those like deep purpley reds, like they're not as is they're not something, the only one, um huh?
atack2010: Oh, gosh, yeah.
Brett: Like oak tree?
atack2010: Some of the oaks are lucky.
Brett: Like a red oak?
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. It was because if there's not that many. I mean, it used to be the ash and of course, black gum is the one I think of.
Jessica : Would you say like black gum with black gum fall on that? Yeah.
atack2010: Ash was one of my favorites.
Jessica : Yeah.
atack2010: In the past, I loved Ash. And the yeah, the the black gum and sweet gums. I mean, sweet gums are a lesser extent, yeah.
Alexis: I think ash is going to be like more of a, quote unquote, true purple, like more plummy.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
Alexis: that And the the other ones, like the oaks and stuff are more um than like burgundy, but like still that purple -y color. I have a black gum. That was like it was the second tree I planted on the farm was a black gum.
Alexis: So excited about it.
atack2010: I don't know.
Alexis: It's going to be so pretty one day.
Brett: You ever have Kookaburrows that sit in there?
Alexis: No.
Brett: Oh, okay.
Alexis: I don't think so.
Jessica : Just checking, right?
Brett: I got you.
Alexis: No,
Brett: That was just a quick lab check.
atack2010: Let's check it. Has anybody mentioned sour wood? That's another little, it's a smaller tree.
Brett: Oh, rain.
atack2010: Sour wood.
Jessica : um
Brett: Good shout.
atack2010: I love sour wood. Somebody was talking about mid -sizers. It's one of the ultra classics for me is sour wood. I grew up with a lot of those.
Brett: From sweet gum to sour wood.
atack2010: Yeah, that's indeed, we're covering the entire gambit.
Brett: It's like first they're sour, then they're sweet.
Alexis: That's a good dark red too.
atack2010: Yes, yes, it's all good. I was trying to think what else, ah what other smaller things like vining or trellis, I mean like berries.
Alexis: Oxygen.
atack2010: I'm trying to think, we talked some about, you know, the plants for winter interest, you can get more ornamental brambles, but as far as like natively what occurs, I can't think of a lot of color in those.
atack2010: Can you guys?
Alexis: Uh, smokebush. So, I mean, it's, it has potential of color kind of all year, different shades of it, but, uh, right now my smokebush is looking pretty, pretty phenomenal.
atack2010: Oh yeah, yeah, that's true. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: Um, and then, I mean, we talked about pawpaw on our pawpaw episode has really great, like that pretty gold and those big, big bat leaves, uh, get pretty color.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
atack2010: Yeah, the gold yellow.
Jessica : Some of the dogwoods.
Alexis: Um, Oh yeah.
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: And the, um, shrub dogwoods too are really pretty.
Jessica : Mm -hmm.
atack2010: Mm hmm.
Alexis: Yeah. The seventh?
Brett: So just briefly, briefly a little shout out for our colorblind friends out there. I think that there's also elements of like the form of fall that can be really cool.
Alexis: Mm -hmm.
Brett: Like when, when some of the grasses start to die back and they're still, but they're still there. and You know, I said shout out to the color bomb people, but the color of it's actually pretty cool too. But the the form of like some of those, either the dead, like herbaceous stuff that dies back to the ground, but all that biomass is woody enough to to hang in place.
Brett: I mean, there's a reason why people do cut flower or dried cut flower bouquets is because there's something really strange and striking and something about that like life in a dead form.
Alexis: Spooky season!
Brett: I don't know. It's a really cool. Yeah, it's very it's very ah metal.
Alexis: Um, seven suns, speaking of like form, I was thinking of, I think of seven suns tree, heptacodium, heptacodium. And, uh, what is it?
Alexis: Paperbark? Paperbark maple or paperbark? There's another one.
atack2010: virtue
Alexis: Paperbark elm.
Brett: Birch? Oh.
Alexis: The Paperbark elm, I think is the one I'm thinking of. They have some outside of some of the buildings on campus, outside the plant science building. And that,
Brett: Oh, yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, those are just leaves, no leaves, color, no color.
Brett: Those are elms, yeah.
Alexis: Those are pretty phenomenal in the landscape and can be a little bit a little bit smaller of a tree.
atack2010: Yeah, yeah of
Alexis: So that's exciting.
atack2010: Before we run out of time I want to know because I'm greedy and I'm always looking for the best spots to see fall color but I want to hear from you guys locally and we're most of us we're all kind of in central Kentucky here ah but if you drive a couple hours that's fine too but what's your ah favorite places to go like do you have a go -to spot for fall color to leave people
Jessica : Um, I say take advantage. If you go to football games this time of year, I've seen, I, we like to park on the other side of the Arboretum and walk through, um, to get to the stadium.
Jessica : And I have walked through sometimes right at peak fall color through the Arboretum. That has been fantastic where I have stopped and taken photos of trying to like not get all the people or the drunk football fans in the photo.
atack2010: Oh yeah.
Alexis: yeah
Jessica : and have the bright blue fall you know sky with the all the maples they have and all the different varieties of trees that are just popping right in the the sun.
atack2010: Oh yeah.
Alexis: you
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah.
Jessica : So that's like an easy one to get to when fall color is like really peak.
atack2010: Hmm.
Alexis: In Central Kentucky, yeah. There's a lot of little so like small arboretums. I know there's Western Kentucky University has like a nice little arboretum down there that they have a lot of different cultivars and species we're going to see those like different pops of color.
Alexis: ah Northern Kentucky has the zoo, but also the Boone County.
atack2010: Yep. Oh yeah.
Jessica : Well, yeah.
Alexis: Arboretum, they're all going to, when you have um places like that that are going to have lots of different species, you're going to see lots of those different shades of color. So from that perspective, you you just want to see a bunch of different color, ah those any type of little arboretum or art.
atack2010: Yeah.
Jessica : I imagine um Alexis and I have been there a couple of times, but Udall up in Louisville, I imagine they have a lot of different fall color going on.
Alexis: Yeah. yeah
atack2010: Yeah.
Alexis: You know, and then of course, if you're looking for natural out in the ah out in the elements, Ray's favorite home away from home, Red River Gorge.
atack2010: Oh, yeah. Yeah. They have lots of nice areas. My favorite trail there is Oxford Ridge. Just look it up.
Brett: Yeah.
atack2010: You're going to find it. It was listed as like one of the top 10 places to leaf look in the eastern US. It's a.
Brett: A -U -X -I -E -R. It's also a cool just a cool trail with some cool rock features, and yeah, good show ray i it's We haven't really gone gone many places like for that reason per se, but we my wife's from Eastern Pennsylvania, and so we end up kind of going up through
atack2010: Yeah. Yeah. Lots of beautiful overlooks. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of my favorite. Thanks, Alexis.
atack2010: Oh, wow.
Brett: Appalachia up through West Virginia, into Maryland, up into Pennsylvania. and there's you know If you time it right, it's pretty beautiful. You can see some of the like species transition um towards some of those older oak forests and um some of the stuff that's been cut and regrown. You can see too. and But I don't know that um one of our friends just moved up to Vermont, which is like one of the baller leaf places, I think. like That's like you know where the true leaf heads go.
atack2010: Yeah, get the early leaf color up there.
Brett: ah Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah, it's like right now. she
atack2010: I love one of my favorite things in the world in that area is when you see leaf color, but you also have these beautiful big swaths of evergreens and the transitions between an evergreen zone and deciduous.
Brett: yeah Yeah.
atack2010: There's nothing more awesome to me than that contradiction there. I love it. Love it.
Brett: And like the elevation difference too.
atack2010: Mm -hmm.
Brett: Like you could see like a really moist like beach and maple stand and then it kind of transitions to oaks and then transitions up to some
atack2010: Yeah. You get these awesome overviews. and so You just see so many strata there, yeah.
Brett: Yeah, that's, that's one of the things about that trail use at Oxford Ridge, you get like a good sense of that, like elevation change in a way that we don't really have a ton of that in like Kentucky, the way that they do out West, at least, where it's within a short, little manageable span, you can see this, this variability and difference.
atack2010: Mm -hmm.
Jessica : Mm
atack2010: Yeah.
atack2010: Mm -hmm.
Alexis: Awesome.
atack2010: Awesome.
Alexis: Well, it's fall season. It's leaf color. It's, you know, last time I asked what your fall like flavors and are and, you know, Halloween candy.
Alexis: So embrace the season of fall, right?
Jessica : -hmm
Alexis: That's what I'm saying. I'm i'm mostly trying to tell myself that I'm like, just embraced it.
Brett: Do you have trouble embracing it?
Alexis: Um, um, it's like, I'm almost scared to embrace it because I know all of the transition that comes with it. So I'm like, no, no, no, no, but it's not yet.
atack2010: oh
Jessica : Not yet, not yet.
atack2010: have
Alexis: I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready.
atack2010: Just ease into the lecture.
Alexis: Cuz fall is the new spring of growers.
Brett: Are we ever, are we ever ready, Alexis?
Alexis: We're never ready. That's why it's still 90 degrees outside when we're recording this.
atack2010: It was warm.
Alexis: But anyways, we hope you enjoyed just something a little fun. Maybe you got some ideas for that new tree or a new little spot you want to put a nice shrub with some good color hopefully you pulled out some ideas ah for that and or maybe just a place a cool trail to go see ah here over the next couple weeks and that's a cool trail to see anytime of year um but if you've got any questions about trees whether or not any of these trees might do well in your space or not you can feel free you to shoot us an email we've got that link in the show notes you can also follow us on Instagram
Alexis: at Hort Culture Podcast. You can drop us a line there, comment on a a photo and just you know tell us how much you love a tree or your maybe your favorite fall tree. Actually, drop that as a review.
Alexis: Tell me your favorite fall tree. I want to know. And while you're at it, give us a few stars. Five would be great. Just throwing it out there for you. ah We really appreciate it.
Brett: I would just do what she says it's easier that way.
Alexis: Just do what I say. It's easier that way. He's right. um But we really thank you all for being with us today. And we hope that as we grow this podcast, you'll grow with us and you'll join us next time. Have a great one.
