>>From contemporary to wilding, there are many styles of landscape design that support self-expression.

And despite the design style that you choose, there's always some dynamic in a landscape that needs to be controlled.

And that's why some of the systems that I developed over time are very helpful for like controlling, I'll say, plants that are very aggressive.

So Robyn, if you could hand me my wonderful black tool.

You know, reuse and recycle is our theme here with sustainability.

And what I've done for many years is I've been able to control plants that wander by corralling them.

And I've taken a nursery pot, a very large one, and I've just cut it to be about eight inches, 10 inches high is good because I want to be able to sink this into the ground so there's only two inches showing.

All right?

I've learned the hard way that if you make it flush with the soil, it doesn't work because what I then do is take my aggressive plants, such as this oregano, which we all know loves to grow and grow and grow.

Or my mint or my Monarda or what are some of the plants that you would put in here that are aggressive?

>>It's the mints.

I would like to have several varieties for their different herbal flavors in my garden.

But the last time we had them, they got totally out of control and we just ended up ripping them out.

It was incredible how aggressively they grew.

>>Yeah.

Aggressive is the word.

Well, with me, even Boltonia just took over the yard and even some of the goldenrods take over and your asters, and we wanna plant these plants, but we wanna have control over them.

And so with this method of cutting the nursery pot, sticking it in the ground.

But here's the trick.

Every spring, I do it very late winter, early spring, I would take my bulb planter and take out three or four, I'll say, core pieces out of this and fill those holes with compost.

And this way the plant has a place to grow 'cause I found it'll just choke itself out if I don't.

>>Now, like for me, I would then maybe give those... >>Plugs to friends.

>>Yes.

>>Yes.

>>You could pot them up and show them the trick of how to have these really wonderful plants that like to go a little too far sometimes.

>>Exactly.

And leaving those two inches, you can cover it with the mulch.

But again, I've learned the hard way, don't make it easy for those roots and those plants to creep over the edge.

So just, you know, think about this, but this is an excellent system.

The bigger the pot, of course the bigger the spot in your garden that you'll have for that plant.

>>Now, would this show, or will you... I know the mulch would come up close, but would it still not show?

>>It shows for a little bit in the spring, but once the plant grows it totally disappears.

>>Wow.

This is one I'm taking home with me.

(Peggy laughing) >>Thank you.

I used it in a public garden for decades.

Nobody knew it was there.

>>Wow.

>>Yes.

So I've got another one too because oftentimes we'll transplant that plant in our garden and maybe we'll get it from a friend and we'll put it in the garden, and then the sun will come out and it'll start to wilt.

So what I have done is, 'cause I was such a basket collector back in the day, is I take a basket and I use that to shade the plant.

And usually I start with a more open basket for lighter shade, alrighty?

But maybe it needs a little bit more shade.

It's still wilting on me in the middle of the day.

Then I get my denser basket and I put that over the plant.

And as you can see, this is very weather worn, but they last quite a number of years.

And I only leave it on for a few weeks.

And if I go from dense to light, usually within another week and a half or so I can take that one off, and my plant has now adapted to the new garden.

It's gone through that transplant shock.

I've removed the sunshine and made it a dappled shade environment so it can get its roots growing and sort of get its feet in the ground.

>>Now, could you use the same system?

Sometimes, you know, we get late frost or cold snaps, and that becomes a real issue for us in the valley that we can get very late frost, sometimes even right up to our last frost date, you know, May 15th.

And it's always how am I gonna tent up this plant?

How am I gonna save it when I put it out maybe a week ahead of time?

>>Truly, truly.

And I would like to say yes, but no, okay?

Because here this basket is still designed to allow air to flow through it, but the sunshine to be, you know, fragmented for a shade.

So you could use this to create the support and then put your sheet over it.

>>Okay.

>>Okay?

Because what the sheet is actually doing is trapping the warmth of the soil up and around the plant.

The plant doesn't generate any heat.

But it's trapping the warmth of the soil up and around it, and breaking the wind too.

>>No, I think that would be great because now you have that built-in unit and putting... That's not a sheet, that's a towel.

And that's a lot easier in the garden to drag out if you've got one or two little tender plants that you forgot or just planted a little too early in your excitement.

>>Yes, and I've also learned laundry baskets.

I'll say the wicker laundry baskets are great.

I mean, you can find tools that you could use, in your case, out in the valley for frost.

And in my case, I can use here in Richmond to block that horrible sun that has just been bearing down on us lately.

It's wonderful but at times, it's a challenge.

So anyway, I've got these two techniques.

One of them is to how to corral an aggressive plant in the garden so that you're not regretting your choice and you still can have that beautiful mint.

And the other one I have is how to then take the plant that maybe you've gotten from your friend and to transplant at an inopportune time in the season, but you wanna get it in the ground to be able to allow it to get itself established before, you know, the true summer heat comes.

>>Thank you for these ideas, Peggy.

I can't wait to take them home and add them to my toolkit.

These are going to be really useful ideas.

>>Well, Robyn, that's good to hear.

I can't wait to hear how successful they are in your garden.