From the snaggy studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, PA, it's time for another avian episode of chemical-free horticultural hijinks, You Bet Your Garden.

Why should the bottom eight to ten feet of dead trees be left standing?

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and on today's You Bet Your Garden, I'll spin a story that's sure to make you a fan of snagging.

Plus a new book demands that you fall in love with teeny tiny plants, and your teeny tiny phone call questions, comments, tips, tricks, suggestions and intensely incommodious inculcations.

So keep your eyes and/or ears right here, cats and kittens, because you're about to learn how to adorn your tiny home with tiny plants.

Right after this.

Support for You Bet Your Garden is provided by the Espoma company, offering a complete selection of natural organic plant foods and potting soils.

More information about Espoma and the Espoma natural gardening community can be found at espoma.com.

Welcome to another thrilling episode of You Bet Your Garden, from the studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, PA, I am your host, Mike McGrath.

coming up later in this show, I'm going to tell you a true story about something that happened to me just last month that reinforces my love of snags, which are dead trees left standing.

But first, can we get a shot of Ducky, because we want to congratulate him.

He got both vaccines and he is three or four weeks out, and so Ducky is finally freed from the constraints of his mask.

But if he didn't have those vaccines, Ducky would endlessly be masked.

But Ducky is a good American, he's doing his best to get rid of this Corona beer virus.

All right, so, coming up again, snags, but first, more - not more, we haven't done one yet!

OK, so, fabulous phone calls.

At 888 - 492 - 9444.

Justin, welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi, Mike, how are you?

- I am just ducky, thank you for asking, Justin.

Ducky is very happy to be mask-free now that he's all vaccinated and stuff.

How is Justin?

- I'm doing well.

I'm in Abington, PA. - OK, what can we do for Justin in Abington?

- So, on one side of my back yard, I share a fence with a neighbor, it's a chain-link fence, and lining the fence for privacy are these beautiful arborvitaes, nice and tall, giving some great privacy.

But my dog, while my neighbour's outside, he's constantly gardening, he's always out there, great guy.

She likes to go between the arborvitae and bark at him nonstop, which he says he doesn't mind, but it annoys me and, I'm sure, annoys him.

So I was wondering if there's any suggestions you have of anything I could grow along the fence, any sort of ivy or anything, that would not affect the arborvitae?

- Ha!

So, now the show is You Bet Your Vet, right?

What kind of dog is it?

- She's an American Staffordshire terrier.

- Oh, a terrier.

Man, they are natural barkers and, you know, when they see movement, they acknowledge it.

Are you asking if you can grow something in front of your arborvitae that would block her view of the back-yard gardener next door?

- Yes.

So, it would be between them and the fence, because they're right up against the fence, but I don't want to do anything that might try to grow into them and choke them out or hurt them at all.

- Right.

You got a lot of room?

- Erm, not a whole lot between there.

- OK, erm... - I've a little bit more room in some parts of the fence but not along the whole fence line.

- OK. Well, is she just going to run down to open fence?

- She might.

Unless I did the whole fence.

- Yeah.

The reason I asked what kind of dog is, I used to have, I was a rescue home for Great Pyrenees, and they love to bark.

Some dogs can be trained not to bark but other dogs, it's in their DNA.

And that's a very active dog too.

So, the first thing I'm going to suggest is, well, he's not out gardening in the winter, right?

- No.

- So you, theoretically, could have a perennial that sheds its leaves in the winter but is around, leaves out fairly early in the season and covers that area.

Otherwise, your only choice, I think, would be a row of Snow White evergreens, evergreens that grow a certain height and don't get any taller.

And, if you space these in the spaces in between your arborvitae, you would take care of that area.

But you'd have to leave, oh, I'm saying two feet.

One foot, that's a small dog.

One foot, so you don't overshade the arborvitae.

Otherwise, I would say, go to your local, independent garden center - for God's sake, not a big-box store - the local garden center... - Oh, have a great one nearby.

- Exactly, and they are as important to preserve as family farms.

So, see what do you have in a perennial that sheds its leaves in the winter but also leaves out early and holds them the longest.

It may be a surprisingly long list.

Otherwise, you get these dwarf cypress or something like that, a spruce, that's meant to not get taller than four or five feet, and then you stagger them in front of the other.

I mean, it would almost look deliberate.

- OK. - All right?

- Yeah, thank you so much for all the advice.

Definitely a lot of things to look into.

- Yes, and thank you for supporting your local, independent garden center.

They don't do anything to support the show and they don't have to, they are very special places.

It's time to introduce the author of Tiny Plants by Leslie Halleck!

Oh, God, I love this book.

Welcome to You Bet Your Garden.

- Hi, thanks for having me on, I'm so happy to hear you love teeny, tiny plants.

- Well, I'm fascinated.

I don't know that I loved them before, but I look at your book and I think of how much of our audience is going to drool when they see some of these pictures and other things that are happening.

It is just amazing.

I'm going to play my Terry Gross hand right away and I want you to read the first three paragraphs of the preface to your book.

It just sets the stage so perfectly.

So, you ready?

- I'm ready.

I did write this because it's the origin story, if you will, of why I wrote this book, which is really a passion project for me.

So, I gave you a little background and a little of my origin of my love of tiny plants.

So...

If I could trace my fascination with tiny plants back to a single moment, it would be my first in-person encounter with a Lilliputian orchid blooming in its native habitat.

After college graduation, I headed for an internship in Puerto Rico with the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research program.

Embedded in the El Yunque national rainforest, I assisted with research on the effects of Hurricane Hugo, which defoliated the entire rainforest in 1989.

One day, while collecting data in a plot that included some large boulders, my eye caught the tiniest speck of pinkish red.

As I approached, I realized with budding excitement that I had found a population of incredibly tiny orchids.

They were Lepanthes rupestris, micro orchids, only found in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico.

The flowers, only a few millimeters in size, rested directly on top of the tiny one-inch leaves.

I recall jumping up and down, as I am prone to do, when I discover cool plants and critters in their natural habitats.

From that moment, I was hooked on all things tiny.

In addition to my formal research duties, I spent time in the next few months hunting down and studying all the tiny orchids and ferns I could find.

In my subsequent travels to the deep Amazon and Ecuadorian rainforests, as well as sky-high volcanoes, my eyes always sought out the tiniest botanical inhabitants.

Several years after that first encounter, I started building vivariums and keeping species of poison dart frogs and other herps.

These small but intense living environments require specific plant species that are both small enough for the enclosure and appropriate for the animals.

Once you start building vivariums for tiny animals, you inevitably take a deep dive into tiny plants.

- That is a fabulous origin story, that beats out being bitten by a radioactive spider by miles.

- I did get bitten by a scorpion on that trip, if that counts.

- Was it radioactive, though?

- I can only hope so, but I think not, unfortunately.

- If it was, you would gain the power of a stinging tail, I'm not sure that's what you're looking for.

- Exactly!

- So, it sounds like, against all odds, it was a pioneer plant in this environment.

You know, after a forest burns or a tidal wave washes everything away, there are plants that emerge first to start holding the soil, attracting bees, doing all that kind of stuff.

And then the rest of the land comes alive behind them.

But they depend on those pioneer plants.

I've never heard of an orchid being a pioneer plant!

- Well, so, evolution is an interesting process and plants and critters find ways to adapt.

They find strategies to adapt that work for them to enable their survival.

And in my book, Tiny Plants, I actually do dive into a little bit of the evolution of tiny plants.

- Orchids are, to the best of my knowledge, the largest - I think it would be family?

- in the plant world.

There are more orchids that are individual than any other type of plant.

So, what percentage are these tiny orchids?

- You know, I think that the orchid family makes up about 10% of all flowering plant species on the planet.

I can't say I have a number for what number, for what percentage the micro species account for, and I would also say that probably, because they're so tiny, they're not as easily discovered, so new micro species are being discovered all the time.

So, I'm not quite sure I can give you...

I'll I have to do some research on that to see if I can figure out what percentage are micro.

And by micro, we're talking down in that one to three-inch range in mature size, genetic, mature size.

So, they're certainly not going to be as prevalent as a lot of the standard orchids, Phalaenopsis, that you find on the market, you're going to have to hunt a little bit harder, but they're out there.

- Can regular humans buy any of the micro orchids, and how easy or difficult are they to care for in the home environment?

- So, what I focus on in the book, in Tiny Plants, are some of the easier genera of micro orchids to grow.

Some can be very tricky, tiny plants can have specialized requirements and many are high-humidity plants, so you'll find, as you go through the book, that many of them I recommend keeping under glass, in a Wardian case, in an orchidarium or a terrarium, because they need that high humidity.

But there are some that are very easy to grow and I give you recommendations for where to start if you're a beginner.

So, certainly, there are going to be some that are easier, just there are easier larger orchids.

Phalaenopsis are very easy to grow for beginners, likewise, you're going to have some genera in the micro orchid realm that are going to be easier than others too.

And you'll find a pretty good variety out in the marketplace.

Again, some are going to be a little harder to find, with a bigger price tag, but I think that's pretty par for the course with orchids across the spectrum, right?

- Orchidarium.

After 24 years, you have introduced a new word to the show.

- I'm hoping I introduced a bunch of new botanical terms for you in Tiny Plants, because that's what it's all about.

The whole reason I wrote Tiny Plants is to introduce everybody...

Anyone, whether they're a beginning gardener or an experienced grower that doesn't have a lot of space or time, wants to bring nature indoors - those apartment dwellers that you were talking about - you can collect hundreds of species of plants with a few square feet of space.

Now, I, like you, grow everything.

I am a heavy-duty outdoor gardener, I'm a vegetable gardener, chicken keeper, rose grower, perennials, fruits, you name it.

But I want green in every nook and cranny, indoors and out, and that's what Tiny Plants lets you do.

And so, the whole point is for you to discover species that you've never heard about, foliage and blooming, and an orchidarium, like a terrarium or a vivarium, is a specialized, controlled growing environment that you can create or buy - plug and play - to house your mounted or potted micro orchid or any other tiny, humidity-loving plant species in a way that maintains their air circulation and humidity.

They're very cool.

- Now, Leslie, every photo in this book makes you want to have that plant in that little pot.

And I both hate to do this and I love to do this, when we have a guest on like you, demand that they name their favorite children.

- Ugh!

- Yeah, I'm sorry, kid, that's the price of introduction here!

- Well, I took all the pictures, I take all the pictures for all my books, because maybe I'm a little bit of a control freak, but I'm also artsy-fartsy, right?

And all of the plants in the book are my plants.

And all of the pictures, I took in my house, somewhere.

With that backdrop, wherever, on a table, yeah.

- Is there anything you don't do?

Can you not work on your own car, are you bad at running the dishwasher, anything?

Give me something!

- I have a slight...

I am a Renaissance woman, I'm going to put it that way, I like doing all things and I like staying busy and I'm a perpetual student, so any new challenge I can give myself and learn, I'm up for it.

So, yes, all my books, all my pictures are taken in my house.

That's the way like to do it, I like, visually, to see plants the way that I have them, and I want you, as the reader, to see what's possible.

They're not staged, they're not in a studio, everything I have is how it grows in my house.

I think authenticity is important.

- Yeah.

I got to go back to that canning plant I used to work with, I'm suddenly feeling totally inadequate here.

But I'm not going to let you off the hook, now you're on 60 Minutes... - What's my favorite plant.

- Yeah, you haven't answered the question, Senator.

- OK, well, it changes.

On any given day, you could ask me what my favorite teeny tiny plants are.

I have a particular attachment to Lithops, living stones.

There is species named Lithops lesliei, which, of course, I have, I have seeds and a collection of Lithops lesliei.

- I'm surprised you didn't discover it and they gave it your name.

- You know, that's a dream.

I only wish that I could discover a really itty-bitty, tiny plant species and have somebody name it after me, that would be really cool.

I think, technically, somebody else really needs to name it after you.

So, I love... And, of course, I'm obsessed with micro orchids.

So, any of the micro orchids, on any given day, will totally capture my fancy.

If you hop over onto my Instagram feed, you'll often see little tiny orchids there.

So, Lithops, micro orchids.

But, you know, if you ask me tomorrow, I might give you a different answer.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we now have to say goodbye, because we've run out of time for this segment.

We could talk to you for hours.

Write another book real fast, OK, so we can have you back on.

Leslie Halleck is the author of Tiny Plants: Discover The Joys Of Growing And Collecting Itty-bitty House Plants.

I got to read this down here on the side.

It is new from Cool Springs Press.

One more thing before we let you go, do you have a website that people can go to and learn more about you redoing all of New York with just one can of paint and some ping-pong balls?

- Yes, you can visit my website, LeslieHalleck.com.

All of my books are there, you can read my bio, find other places to buy my books if you want to support your local book shop or buy online.

So, LeslieHalleck.com, all the info you need to know.

- All right, thank you again, Les, you were fabulous.

- Thank you.

- All, right, it is time for a rather unusual Question of the Week.

Back when I was writing stories for Green Prints and editorials in Organic Gardening Magazine, a lot of times, I would write a story.

And we haven't done a story on the show in years.

So, here we go, and it's called In Praise Of Snags.

Snags are dead trees left standing, which is the way of the world in the woods, but not the typical way in the American landscape, where imitations of Disney World plant sculptures are the desired ideal.

Until the homeowner finds out how much work it's going to be to maintain a topiary of Uncle Scrooge.

When most people have trees taken down, they have three options - cut the tree down and have the stump pulled, which is the most expensive option but the only one that allows immediate replanting in that same area.

Or have the tree cut down and have the top of the stump ground down, which is less expensive but really annoying when the homeowner realizes they can't plant anything in that same space because there's a giant wooden plug in the ground.

Or you can have the tree cut down most of the way but leave a six to ten-foot snag standing, which is the cheapest option and the best for wildlife.

A couple of ten years ago, had a bunch of trees taken down, including a magnificent double-trunked ash that had fallen prey to the dreaded emerald ash borer, an invasive, non-native insect that is sending ash trees the way of the American elm and chestnut.

I instructed the tree crew to leave each tree a snag, and they insisted they knew what that meant.

But at the end of the day, I went out to see that the double-trunked ash was cut down to only about half its original size, which meant it was still taller than the house.

The crew chief, and owner of the company, didn't look so good but he said they'd be back to finish up.

Next day, I get a call from his wife, who's crying so much she can barely speak.

He wasn't just tired, he had just learned that his lack of energy was because he had cancer.

She wanted to try to make good on the trees but I could guess that their business was already underwater, so I just ate it, figuring I would have the rest of the work done "later on".

I try to be a nice guy at least once a year so I don't forget what it feels like.

Well, it's long past later on and I am happy with my too-tall snags, especially the ash, which is riddled with woodpecker holes high up in the trunk.

We have also seen a tiny owl living in a hole a little closer to the ground and several really mysterious holes near the bottom of the tree which we don't want to mess with.

So, there it stands, an obvious home for lots of wildlife, as are the other snags.

But an experience I had back in May topped them all.

It was during an early heat wave, so I got up at 6am to go out and water and check on things.

The day before had been hot and dry, but at 6am, it was delightful, a pleasure to be outside, as it would not be by later that day.

So, I'm watering plants and generally puttering around in the cool, dry air, when I hear a weird sound.

I've been there 35 years, first time I've heard this sound.

You know how evil squirrels like to taunt you with their high-pitched chuckling from the trees?

This sound was similar, but much deeper in tone.

It was definitely coming from the trees but almost sounded more like a bullfrog than an evil squirrel.

I was able to isolate the sound to the top of one arm of the double trunked ex-ash, but I couldn't see anything.

Boom!

Then something popped up at the very top, an area that was riddled with woodpecker nest holes a few feet down.

It went back in, popped up again, came back out of the hole at the top slowly, over and over again, each time revealing a little more of itself.

Then I saw what I felt had to be a duck bill.

"I tawt I taw a duck," I mumbled in my best Tweetie Pie voice.

Then, as if it was on a hidden riser, it moved upwards until I could see its entire body.

"I did, I did, I did see a duck!"

It sat there for a moment and then took off, a duck of many colors, gliding peacefully low through the woods across the road.

Was this a poor mallard that didn't make it home last night and took refuge in what had obviously become the neighbourhood's friendly Motel 6?

To find out, I looked at a great article from Cornell, listing the 20 most common ducks in Pennsylvania, with loads of great photos.

I'm going over it, "No, that's not it.

"No, that's not it either," until I got to number ten - the wood duck.

How much wood would a wood duck duck if a wood duck could duck wood?

Plenty, it turns out.

And I quote, "Unlike most waterfowl, "wood ducks perch and nest in trees "and are comfortable flying low through the woods.

"Their broad tails and short, broad wings "help make them manoeuvrable."

They even call them cavity nesters.

Is there a duck nest in the top of my already favorite snag?

Will I see little wood ducklings at some point?

Another Cornell article tells me that the incubation period for the eggs is 28 to 37 days, and there may be two broods a year.

The chicks emerge to quote... Ahem, the chicks emerge, quote, "Fully dressed, and jump out of the tree "and fly one day after hatching."

Yikes!

I'd like to see that.

I guess I'd better keep getting up early.

A longer version of this story will appear in the next issue of Green Prints, the Weeder's Digest, a great magazine about the joys of gardening, that's been going strong for more than 30 years.

Special thanks to long-time editor Pat Stone for allowing me to run this condensed version in advance of its appearance in Green Prints, as long as I said the name Green Prints more than five times.

You'll find lots more information at...

Wait a minute, that's only three or four.

Erm, GreenPrints.com, Green Prints, Green Prints, Green Prints.

Well, that sure was some interesting information about snagging more wildlife to watch, now, wasn't it?

Luckily for yous, the Question of the Week appears in print at the Gardens Alive website.

To read it over at your leisure or your lee-sure, just click the link for the Question of the Week at our website, which is still and will forever be YouBetYourGarden.org.

Gardens Alive supports the You Bet Your Garden Question of the Week, and you will always, always find the latest Question of the Week, where?

At the Gardens Alive website.

You Bet Your Garden is a half-hour public television show, an hour long public radio show and podcast, all produced and delivered to you weekly from the studios of Lehigh Valley Public Media in Bethlehem, PA. Our radio show is distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.

You Bet Your Garden was created by Mike McGrath.

Mike McGrath was created when a certain Victor Frankenstein pulled the wrong lever.

Yikes!

My producer's threatening to snap my peas if I don't get out of the studio, we must be out of time.

But you can call us any time at 888-492-9444 or send us your email - your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse teeming towards our garden shore - at ybyg@wlvt.org.

Please include your location.

You'll find all of this contact information at our website, YouBetYourGarden.org, where you'll also find the answers to all the questions you were going to ask me.

Audio of this show, video of this show, audio and video of old shows and our podcast, oy!

I'm your host, Mike McGrath, and my compost thermometer always reads the same as my magic eight ball - ask again later.

And I'll do just that before I see you all again, next week.