Honeydew!

Or, Why Are the Trees Black?
 

I noticed a gooey sticky feeling when I leaned up against my truck yesterday. Depending on your garage and driveway situation...you too may be noticing the black haze on your car (patio furniture, umbrellas, cats, etc).

What is going on? Well, this happens every year in the fall when the aphids are getting extra busy. The aphids excrete.......well, they excrete secretions. Commonly called honey dew. The honeydew falls on everything below their excretory location, and then  black sooty  mold (Capnodium, a type of fungus) grows in the secretions. The black sooty mold (Capnodium) does not itself harm the trees, or your lawn furniture. It may shade the leaves somewhat, inhibiting nutrition slightly, but probably not to a great degree.
Aphids (of which there are many species) live in all kinds of trees and shrubs but are particularly fond of hack berry trees and crape myrtles. I expect the excess of rain and moisture this year has contributed to: more aphids, more greenery, more moist conditions.

There's no need for pesticides, most of this will be washed away with weather. Once again, this is in the category of No Need for Alarm; Just an Annoyance. Take your car to the car wash. Scrub the lawn furniture with a general cleaner. Always use less strong products then go to stronger ammo if you need to.
Thanks as always to the wealth of free information from state Extension Services.

http://baker.ifas.ufl.edu/Horticulture/documents/BlackSootyMoldonLandscapePlants.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/SoilPlantPestCenter

Fall Wildflowers

Fall wildflowers along Little Swan Creek in Lewis County TN. Late September:
Axillary Goldenrod (Solidago caesia, or perhaps S. curtisii), Hearts-a-Bustin (Euonymous americanus),and a Rudbeckia form.

Also seen: Hydrangea arborsecens, various ferns, Asters, Joy-Pye Weed (Eupatoreum fistulosum), and Rhus toxicodendron
All photographs copyright 2013 Mary Boyd.

There's Nothing Like a 'Mater

I have a beautiful memory of childhood trips to Mississippi to visit my father's family. My aunt Zelma and my grandmother would cook enormous rich meals. Aunt Zelma would say, "Get those maters from the winder sill, and wash em and slice em."

Now that middle Tennessee has seen a few weeks of hotter weather, my tomatoes are producing something! The peppers and tomatoes have been slow this summer but now I'm eating cherry tomatoes and basil and peppers everyday.

Tomatoes are a warm weather crop, an annual plant, benefitting from open space (air flow) and lost of sunny warm weather. I rarely buy tomatoes from the grocery store, and  welcome summer tomatoes from my own garden or from neighbors, friends, and local produce stands.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37271/title/Opinion--Restoring-Tomato-Flavor/

This easy article explains quite a bit about store -bought tomatoes and why they just don't taste as good as home-grown.  Like many hybrid species (even animals), when we hybridize to produce desired traits, we often lose other desireable traits, or even create new problems. Mass-produced tomato species now, have been mostly bred for high yield, easy transport, tough skins, and the ability of a crop to come ripe at a similar time. Bred away inadvertently were many of the sugars and carotenoids. Combine this situation with refrigerated transport, and picking green....and we've got those tomatoes we know so well...pretty and plump and...not so tasty.

It's relatively easy to grow  a few tomato plants at home, even with very little space. If you've got six hours of sun or better, try it. Buy your tomato plants from a local plant sale, like Master Gardeners field days, PPSMT sale, or at a store selling local starts.
Here's a pic of today's harvest: a 'Better Boy' and 'Husky' cherry tomatoes. Yum!

Why I Love Summer

Canna lily stem and leaf (canna generalis), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), JoePye weed (Eupatorium fistulosa)

Rain and Watering

If your don't rely on an automatic irrigation system you probably watch the weather closely and are concerned about when to water your landscape plants. There are some various factors to consider, but a simple approach for starters, is to give your flowers and shrubs supplemental water any week that there is less than one inch of natural rainfall.

Today is Wednesday June 5 and we've already had close to half an inch in Nashville this morning. By Thursday afternoon I would estimate at least 1.5 inches (based on NOAA projections). So all things being equal, you might not think about watering again until middle of next week.

Since all things aren't equal, remember that some plants like a little less water, some a little more, some locations in your soil and yard hold moisture longer. Most plants do not like 'wet feet' where the soil stays moist and soggy for days at a time. This can lead to water starvation and fungal diseases. Prevent these problems by watering deeply but infrequently (e.g., not daily!) and by amending your garden soil with natural materials like finely shredded pine bark, known as 'pine fines' or with compost you have made or bought. This helps the soil drain better.
If you have shrubs that have been growing successfully in place for several years, they may only need extra watering in times of drought.
Particurlarly, these shrubs and flowers are very tolerant of dry periods:
Nandina
Yew
Oak Leaf Hydrangea
most native shrubs ( Fothergilla, Itea, Ninebark, native Viburnums, Hearts A Bustin, etc)

Sedums, Coneflowers,Salvas, Columbine, Asters, Joe-Pye Weed, Sunflowers,Bee Balm, Lavendar, Lenten Rose and most understory wildflowers are drought tolerant and can rely only on natural rainfall.

Holy Roses!

Its that time again....when you go out and find your roses are chewed up pretty thoroughly....holes in the leaves, maybe even entire leaves defoliated.
It's most likely the rose sawfly doing the chewing. If you look on the underside of the leaf you may find a green crawling chewing creature that looks like a caterpillar. It's not technically a caterpillar but is the larva of a (non-stinging) wasp. Anyway, they love rose leaves.

It's not cause for too much alarm, by the time you notice them, most of the life cycle of the insect is ending. And they are almost ready to move on. They will not continue chewing all summer, so not to worry.
What to do now: If you have a few roses you can hand pick them, or spray with a strong jet of water to knock them off. They wont crawl back up, promise. You can use a spray of Neem oil or any commercial product designated for insect control on roses.
Finally, you can prune or shear the worst part of the rose, dispose of the trimmings in the trash, and anticipate lovely new foliage on your rose.

Here are some pretty accurate photos of the insect and the damage:

http://www.sactorose.org/ipm/84rosesawflies.htm

and More Spring Flowers

Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum) Not a North American native, but a common winter annual.

Purple Dead Nettle at Long Hunter State Park April 2013



Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) Common eastern native wildflower. There are two other native other Erythroniums, one blooming white.

Trout Lily at Long Hunter State Park April 2013

 

http://tnps.org/   to visit the Tennessee Native Plant Society. It’s a nice resource for plant identification and to find out where to buy nursery grown native wildflowers. (Don’t disturb the wild ecology-don’t steal plants from public lands, thanks.)

 

(All images copyright Mary Boyd 2013)

Spring Wildflowers

Winter gave us some warm days in January and early February but the last several weeks have been about 10 degrees below normal for middle Tennessee. Spring wildflowers are just now popping up, emerging from beneath the leaf litter in the woods. Or in wildflower shady gardens. . Those in sunnier spots are already blooming; some are waiting for a little more warmth.

Here are some reasons to love shade: the first spring ephemerals are showing.  Dutchman’s Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), Trilliums,   Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica). Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum)and Ginger (Asarum) are just showing their new leaves and will bloom later.

 

Along with these you will probably find in your shade garden the full crop of winter annual weeds coming to peak. Some of them are quite beautiful, like Purple Dead Nettle and Henbit (both Lamium genus).

Many parks are hosting guided wildflower walks, great opportunities to observe and learn about our many beautiful flowers from well-informed naturalists.

Local favorites include Beamon Park , Radnor Lake, the Warner Parks, and Cedars of Lebanon. 

Trails & Trilliums is an annual event in Monteagle celebrating the South Cumberland Recreation Area and the surrounding communities with a wealth of activities about native plants.  http://www.friendsofscsra.org/trailsandtrilliums.org/ April 14-16

 

Spring 2013

This year has been an especially 'late' spring, with cool temperatures and cloudy days well into late March. Buds are slow to open, grass still doesnt need mowing, thank goodness. And just to make a finishing statement, this Spring has given us........Snow!
Not quite enough for sleddding alas, but enought to make us smile if we are looking out the window and maybe wrinkle our brow if we are heading out to our car.
Enjoy, and look forward to the flowers soon.

Azalea buds, Oak Leaf Hydrangea buds, and pansies, snow-dressed

Winter Garden Activities

Some winter garden activities:

Trim monkey grasses.
Trim ornamental grasses.
Prune shrub and hybrid tea roses.
Prune climbing roses.
Weeding.
Prune Hydrangeas, if they flower on new wood.
Begin planting your winter vegetable garden: onions, greens, beets
Begin indoor seeds for summer vegetables.
Watch your daffodils and crocuses and make a note about where to plant more in the fall.

Creepy Crawlies

 

If you have boxwoods, you probably know that now is the perfect time to prune them, during their dormancy. While I was out pruning yesterday I also ran into these fauna: boxwood leaf miners (Monarthropalpus flavus).

I have been learning about them over the last few years but am reading up again as I do most winters. There is always something to learn.   One source says that the Boxwood leaf miner is most common on American boxwoods, not seen as much on English or Korean boxwoods.

So what do we know about them? The boxwood leaf miners emerge as adults in late April to early May depending on the temperatures. The adult is a flying insect which briefly lives to deposit eggs in the newest flush of spring leaves. Then the larva grows in the leaf until next spring.

These creatures were on a series of dwarf boxwoods in a south Nashville garden. There are large boxwoods on the property, probably English, that showed no signs of leaf miners.

 

Here, note the front and back side of the leaves;  both sides look blistered. The affected leaves are only at the outer several inches of the twigs. Inside the blisters are larvae which are growing between the leaf’s front and back surface. If you carefully tear open the leaf, you may find a larva. Or two.  Maybe wiggling. Tiny yellow bits of life.These larvae will pupate this spring. And start the cycle again.

How bad is this? Depending on who you ask, not so bad, just an aesthetic buzz-kill.  Or they can weaken and kill your plant over time. I cannot give specific treatment advice,  but there’s plenty of research to be found on chemical controls. I have also heard about a wasp predator, either the Diglyphus isaea or possibly Dacnusa,  which might be worth learning more about.

Happy pruning!

Winter Thoughts

Now we have gorgeous 50 degree sunny days – this is my kind of winter weather. I even went out to my veggie garden and pulled out some chickweed/dead nettle out of the strawberry patch. Barely made a dent but it was satisfying anyway.

I have been hearing frequently this fall and winter about these two disease issues, so here’s what I understand about 2 prevalent problems in landscape flowers that might affect us gardeners this year.

Impatiens disease
A downy mildew is infecting Impatiens walleriana (common shade Impatiens) and possibly some wild Impatiens in 32 states or more as of the fall of 2012, mostly east of the Mississippi River. There is debate about whether there are effective chemical controls right now.

Certainly for homeowners, an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach will be most useful. [Integrated Pest Management is an attitude towards plant health whereby we look at the whole picture before reaching for a sprayer. Consider these components in any a problem situation: Horticultural requirements like shade/sun tolerance and pH and nutrition needs; abiotic causes meaning what might have caused the problem that wasn’t a disease or insect; weather, storms, etc that might be contributing; human and pet impact; identify symptoms before making conclusions – sometimes an insect pest or a browning of a plant came after some other injury or malady.] [Just one example: There’s a lovely shade bed full of Hosta and in April the gardener notices dozens of holes in the foliage. Gardener does a careful inspection and can find no insects in sight. But there was a hail storm the week before. One very likely explanation!]

IPM for Impatiens downy mildew calls for rotating crops in planting beds, possibly preventative fungicides, and removal of affected plants. Some nurseries are effectively using fungicides on their market plants. This will not provide protection from spores remaining in soil from past infected plantings. Note that you cannot identify the infected plants by sight, so buying a healthy looking plant at the garden center doesn’t mean the mildew won’t appear later.

For most homeowners, unless you want to spray a fungicide weekly, it’s easier to try planting a new variety of bedding plants this year. For shade beds, try New Guinea Impatiens, which are suggested as disease resistant, or try annual Begonias, or Hypoestes. Vinca (annual) may do well in mixed sun/shade beds…hey, you could even migrate to perennials: some smaller Hosta and Hardy Begonias will provide a full ground cover, though with not quite the color coverage of Impatiens.


Rose Rosette Disease
Rose Rosette disease has been showing up in roses for several years but is now being talked about frequently in the nursery and landscape industries.
• All types of roses are susceptible but shrub roses (including Knockout roses) are particularly prone. • Rose rosette is a viral disease, spread by mites, which are most active spring to September.
• Symptoms are: deformed leaves and flower buds, excessive reddish foliage, thick clusters of small stems (“witches broom” effect) , and unusually thorny stems.
• RRV is systemic to the plant, but does not live in the soil.
• If the plant becomes systemically affected, it may die within a few years.
• Vines, ramblers, and well-pruned hybrid teas are less likely to be hosts.
• There is no cure at this time. Prevention efforts with an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach may reduce chances of getting the viral disease. IPM goal is to create an environment less prone to infection, and to target the vector, a wooly mite.
• The mite that transmits the disease can travel on the wind, for many miles. The mite is tiny and invisible to the human eye without magnification.
• Heavily pruned roses are less susceptible to the disease. A spray of horticultural oil in winter just before dormancy break may help slow the problem by knocking back some of the mite population. • It is unclear if a repeat pesticide treatment during the growing season is effective. If you treat your roses in spring for Sawfly with a neem oil, it won’t hurt any other IPM efforts for RRV.
• Plant climbing roses or ramblers which seem to be less susceptible than shrub roses.
• Plant and prune so that plants do not touch each other, to avoid cross-contact
• Remove and destroy any infected rose. Don’t put this in the compost.
• http://www.ars.org/pdfs/rose_rosette.pdf
• http://www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext_files/PPFShtml/PPFS-OR-W-16.pdf

The good news is there are a lot of other beautiful plants we are growing that will give us flowers throughout the year. Plenty of hardy plants around that don’t play victim very often to pest problems: daisies, sunflowers, zinnias, the almost fool-proof butterfly bush, hostas, beautyberry, hardy azaleas, the ever-tough coreopsis, annual vinca, and so on.

Winter Garden To Do List: Prune and thin boxwoods in February. There is more than one school of thought about boxwoods, so do some research. I go with thinning in the dormant season, to open up the interior for air flow, sunlight, and deadwood removal. This can be done with or without the ‘clouding’ effect. Prune roses on a dry cool day in February .

  Trim ornamental grasses including monkey grass. Do not trim sedges. For smaller grasses like Little Bluestem, Miscanthus, etc, I use hand pruners or ‘secateurs’ as they are known across the pond. For large grasses that are hard to handle like Switch grass I usually have a helper and gas powered hedge trimmers. Tie up the base of the plant, maybe 12-15 inches above the ground, with some compostable twine. Then have the very trusting helper hold the top so it doesn’t flop around. Carefully watching all things non-plant, announce that you are starting to cut, and then run the hedge trimmers smoothly through the grass stems. Rake up and compost the trimmings. With all things involving cutting, use sharp tools, and clean the blades with alcohol between species or between any individuals suspected of disease.

Plant winter vegetables including greens, onions, beets. I wait until February to start my beets and onions. But greens –collards, kale, spinach – are pretty cheap as seed and you can start planting a series of rows, every couple of weeks until really warm weather.