A Genius Drainage Tip

About This Episode

Why you should drill a hole in the bottom of a flower pot. Plus, Grumpy’s gripe of the century.

Question Of The Week

"Why do you say to drill a hole in the bottom of a flower pot? What will happen if I don't?" -Kyle

Grumpy's Answer: Because if you don't, Kyle, you'll become the target of Grumpy's jaundice eye and I will seek you out, I will find you, and I will pummel you with ear wax. You see, about 99% of garden plants grown in plants need good drainage, or the roots will rot. Rotten roots means dead plants. The only exceptions are plants that naturally grow in standing water or boggy soil like water lilies and pitcher plants. So, except for those, always plant in pots with drainage holes in the bottom. If a pot doesn't have one, make one. I hope I've been clear on that, Kyle.

Gripe Of The Week

It's what's going on in mainstream media and all over the internet now, and it's all these native plant fans. Where that's also short for fanatics, who believe that you should never plant anything in your yard. No plant that wasn't here in North America prior to the arrival of Columbus. There's a couple things that are wrong with this. Number one, just because something is native, doesn't make it a good plant for your yard. A good example of that would be this vine we have in Alabama and in a lot of places in the East called Virginia Creeper. People confuse it a lot with poison ivy 'cause it has these divided leaves, and it's a vine. And this vine, like all vines, hardly ever stops growing. It'll grow up anything. It'll attach itself and grow up concrete. It'll attach itself to metal poles. It'll go up the sides of a tree. It'll go up the sides of your house. I've seen it go up, get behind the siding of a house, go all the way up inside a house and then come out the roof.

And the vine it produces these berries, which the birds eat and poop out everywhere. So, you get all these seedlings, and it also spreads by these really fast spreading roots go beneath the soil and all of a sudden you've got a Virginia Creeper here, a Virginia Creeper there, a Virginia Creeper everywhere. So, this is a horrible plant, and it's native. Now, there's lots of plants from foreign lands that we love, like azaleas, and camellias, and gardenias, and they never cause a problem, but the native plant people say,"No, no, no, you can't plant them.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 30 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.