Take It or Leaf It (2025)

22/06/2024

Might we recommend some Veronica (Speedwell) for your garden?

With flowers similar to Salvia, but much more compact, this summer bloomer will bring in the pollinators. Coming in pinks, blues, white, purples, this perennial can grow in most areas within the US (and elsewhere, of course). Usually growing to be 12-24” tall and wide, depending on the cultivar, and having an upright habit, these perennials are great along borders, in small gardens, and make great additions to pollinator-friendly spaces.

Just look at how happy those bees are!

19/06/2024

Ethan’s mom has two, picture-perfect Summer Crush Hydrangeas (part of the Endless Summer collection) in her garden. They’ve been a part of her garden for about 4 years, maybe longer, and have just grown beautifully.

This Hydrangea is a macrophylla species and thrives in part sun (morning sun being ideal) and blooms most reliably on old growth. However, this Hydrangea is bred to bloom on old and new growth, providing a longer blooming season. As with other Hydrangea macrophylla, altering the soil’s pH can change the flower color. The Summer Crush can change, over time, from pink to purple or vice versa, but it does not turn blue like some other cultivars. Growing to only be 2-3’ tall and wide, this Hydrangea isn’t a bully and is great for tight spaces.

For all kinds of information on Hydrangeas, you can listen to Episode 11 - Hydrangeas: The Most Versatile Shrub?, where we go in depth on all the different types of hydrangeas and how to care for them.

Access our show anywhere you listen to podcasts. You can use the link below to view our digital business card which has links to all things Take It or Leaf It.

https://poplme.co/takeitorleafitpod

12/06/2024

Whether you live in an area where the 13-year brood is tapering off or you live in an area where the 17-year brood is kickstarting, cicadas have been a huge topic.

Yes, some damage can be done and yes, it will suck to see some of the new growth on your young trees (maybe 6-10 inches) fall victim to the cicadas making incisions to deposit eggs. However, your trees are going to be okay. We promise.

Instead of worrying about the cicadas, might we suggest finding awe. It’s quite a fascinating thing, really.

Our latest episode delves into all things cicada - give it a listen.

Instead of posting all the different links to all the different Take It or Leaf It related things, we have started using Popl, a digital business card. You don’t need an account or an app. Just use the link below and you will easily be able to access links to our episodes from a multitude of hosts, our website, and our contact information.

https://poplme.co/takeitorleafitpod

25/05/2024

Gymnocalycium mihonavichii ‘Variegata’ 🔥🔥🔥

This cool cactus is most commonly seen as a bright red, orange, purple, yellow, or pink orb grafted onto another cactus - usually referred to as a Moon Cactus. When they are entirely another color without any green (unlike the one in the picture) they need to be grafted onto another plant in order to survive. The lack of green mean they are not able to create their own chlorophyll and therefore act, in a way, as a parasitic graft. We usually refer to the grafted Moon Cactus as the hamster of the plant world…it’s going to have a short life.
Luckily, the plant pictured has plenty of green surface area and can survive on its own without needing to be grafted.

As with most cacti, neglect is important. Provide it with a bright window and water once a month or once every other month - if you like to water plants then stop buying cacti as houseplants 🤷‍♂️

24/05/2024

We’re back!
Episode 1 of Season 2 starts off with, none other than: THE CICADA ARMAGEDDON!
We answer all your questions:
“Do I need to put a paper bag over my head and lie down?”
“Will all my plants be unalived?”
“Will my child ever be able to live a fulfilling life afterwards?”
“Why are all the horticulturists, entomologists, botanical gardens, and nurseries so calm about this!?”
In true Take It or Leaf It fashion, we did the research so you didn’t have. Luckily, everything is going to be alright. Some of you have already started to see cicada emergence and some of you will be seeing it shortly. Some of you saw periodic cicada emergence last year and some of you will see it next year.
Let’s take a moment to be truly amazed and fascinated by these insects that live for 13 or 17 years under ground before crawling to the surface for their final metamorphosis all for the chance to get lucky 😉. Give our episode a listen so that you can throw your cicada fear away.

Thanks to all our listeners and Patreon supporters. Truly, we appreciate you all. There are a lot of podcasts out there and a lot of other things out there to preoccupy your time. It means a lot to us when you spend some of your time listening to our podcast. We hope to continue growing this podcast and providing contact you love. Share us with a friend (or total stranger) and keep on planting, Hort Homies!

Like, listen, and support us anywhere you listen to podcasts.

To stay connected with us and to find links to our podcasts, Patreon, website, or contact info you can use the link below. We use Popl as our digital business card - it is free for you to access and doesn’t require an account or app. Just click the link and you’ll have access to all things Take It or Leaf It.

https://poplme.co/takeitorleafitpod

21/04/2024

We’re getting back into the swing of podcasting again. We just finished recording our first episode of Season 2 of the Take It or Leaf It podcast! With all the hullabaloo about cicadas in the Midwest, we decided to do a very relevant episode on just that. Spoiler alert: everything is going to be fine.
We have some great plans moving forward this year - we plan on doing several interviews, which is really exciting.

We have started to use a digital business card, Popl, and it is pretty cool.
Using Popl we can streamline how people can listen, support, and reach us. Tapping the link below will take you to our Popl business page where you can find links to our episodes (you can pick your preferred listening platform), our Patreon page, our socials, and our website. You don’t need an app or an account to access our Popl page which is part of the reason we chose it. We hope you find it useful.

https://poplme.co/takeitorleafitpod

Like, listen, and rate us wherever you listen to your podcasts.

18/02/2024

Because we know you all are itching to get back into your gardens and take advantage of the occasional nice days we have leading up to April and May, here’s a great guide to knowing your Hydrangeas by Proven Winners. You can find the whole pdf on their website or the link below. You can skip the reading and listen to Ep. 11 of our podcast - Hydrangeas: The Most Versatile Shrub?

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/take-it-or-leaf-it/id1688685967?i=1000622961508

https://www.provenwinners.com/Hydrangeas-Demystified

13/01/2024

We hope you have all had a wonderful Holiday Season and are getting well-rooted into the new year.
We will be back to releasing some great new content here shortly! Currently we are working on a “Best of ‘23” episode and then we’ll be back at it recording new episodes.

Whenever you have a moment, if you could rate our podcast (5⭐️ reviews are the best), wherever you listen - that is a free way to help support our show. As we work towards providing new content and improving the show, we would also like to hear from you, the listeners. Email us at [email protected] with any ideas, constructive feedback, or tell us a great plant-related story that we could mention in the show.

We appreciate all of our supporters and listeners so much.

Catch up on last year’s episodes and like, listen, support, and follow anywhere you listen to podcasts.

You can follow us on Instagram as well.

https://www.instagram.com/takeitorleafitpod?igsh=MXUzcWxxNGxyenJscg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

05/12/2023

We hope you enjoy listening to the latest episode ( #24). In it we talk about multiple rare/uncommon houseplants that we have in our collection.
These are two of Nick Farringdon’s newest additions to his collection - purchased at Garden Heights Nursery in the STL area.
In the episode we describe the plant in the second picture and name it as a Euphorbia (because that’s what the tag said), however, it turns out that it is a Eulophia. We thought it looked very orchid-like and we were right - it is a Desert Orchid.
Let’s all wish Nick the best of luck caring for his new orchid (Orchids are neither Ethan’s or Nick’s specialty 🤪), as we totally thought he was buying a low maintenance Euphorbia.

Check the plant pics out for care instructions.

More plant pics to come!

02/12/2023

Episode 24
Hot tea and Houseplants are the vibes this week.

We went to Teatopia and were served by the maestro, Reginald. He’s stocked on all the teas you ever wanted and even more of the ones you didn’t know you needed 🍵. He had quite the collection of plants in his store and that was all Ethan Wise and Nick Farringdon needed to be encouraged to go shopping at a local IGC (Independent Garden Center), Garden Heights Nursery. We got lucky, as they just received a fresh shipment of houseplant goodies that were begging for a new home. So, of course, we left with 3 unique/rare plants 🪴 .
We go into detail about our finds at Garden Heights Nursery as well as some other rare/uncommon plants that we have.
We also name drop a fantastic local panaderia, Dianas Bakery. If you are in the area, you have to check them out. Their selection is 👌🤌🤤.

Like, listen, follow, and support us on:

Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/take-it-or-leaf-it/id1688685967

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/4D8xdzjdVhGf1JoeMtRe98?si=xPLdTtoES7uMCgu2o3PzBw

YouTube
https://youtube.com/

iHeart
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-take-it-or-leaf-it-115460009/

Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/TakeItorLeafIt

Website
https://www.takeitorleafitpod.com/

18/11/2023

Episode 23: Houseplants - Complete Care During Winter

Ethan Wise & Nick Farringdon talk about their tips for success on caring for your houseplants over the cold, winter-y season. With over 200 plants, collectively, in their houses, they know a thing or two on how to keep them happy. Some of their knowledge has been earned the hard way…let’s have a moment of silence for the dead, but not forgotten plants. So, learn from their mistakes and their successes!

The podcast is TOTALLY FREE to listen to and you can find it anywhere you would listen to podcasts. If you’re not sure where to search for our podcast, you can find several different links below.

We would love it if you could give us a like 👍 and/or a follow on our page and our Instagram page.

Find us on:

Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/take-it-or-leaf-it/id1688685967

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/4D8xdzjdVhGf1JoeMtRe98?si=xPLdTtoES7uMCgu2o3PzBw

iHeart
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-take-it-or-leaf-it-115460009/

YouTube
https://youtube.com/

Website
https://www.takeitorleafitpod.com/

Take It or Leaf It

22/06/2024

19/06/2024

12/06/2024

25/05/2024

24/05/2024

21/04/2024

18/02/2024

13/01/2024

05/12/2023

02/12/2023

18/11/2023

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share