Tom Macy (Forest Health Program Administrator, Division of Forestry, Ohio Department of Natural Resources) has organized a workshop on treatment options for two non-native invasive pests threatening hemlock in Ohio: hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) and Elongate Hemlock Scale (EHS).

I received a call recently from Miguel Preza, the Integrated Pest Manager for a local nursery about the onset of early fall color. He said something very helpful, “If the tree or shrub looks different than the others, take a closer look. In a planting of red Maples Acer rubrum, a couple of trees were showing fall color ahead of the others. On closer inspection, the trees in color were infested with oyster shell scale.

So-called Lazarus Lizards were a topic in both a diagnostic walk-about and a meeting I was involved with last week. The lizard's common name is influenced by where you stand, literally. If you're an American herpetologist, you would call them European Wall Lizards. If you live in Europe, they are Common Wall Lizards. If you're a native Cincinnatian, you would likely call them Lazarus Lizards.

During a recent visit to a car dealership for an oil change, I spotted two coups at the back of their lot sporting a white-speckled color scheme. Both cars were parked beneath a poplar (Populus sp.) and a closed examination revealed the source of the striking color pattern as well as an interesting insect partnership.

I came across a small silk nest on pin oak (Quercus palustris) earlier this week in northern Kentucky which I first thought was the handiwork of Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea). Nests of this native web-spinning caterpillar are currently on obvious display throughout Greater Cincinnati and oaks are on their menu.

Participants in the Greater Cincinnati BYGLive! Diagnostic Walk-About held this past Monday in the Boone County Arboretum (Union, KY) viewed second-generation Catalpa Hornworms (Ceratomia catalpae) enjoying a last hurrah before pupating this season. Their discovery led to a discussion on host preference, parasitoids, and a virus spun out of a wasp's genome

Participants in last week's Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop looked at but didn't touch, the Smaller Parasa (Parasa chloris). They kept their distance because the deceptively named caterpillar packs a venomous punch that's far from small. As with many creatures in Nature (e.g. crocodilians, mamba snakes, grizzly bears, etc.); these caterpillars should not be handled.

Participants at last week's Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop in Secrest Arboretum (OSU OARDC) viewed the round, pointed galls produced by the Oak Rough Bulletgall Wasp on its namesake host. They also observed – at a distance – the buzzing security detail protecting the immature gall wasps developing within the galls.

Reports of large numbers of "sweat bees" buzzing gardeners and other outdoor enthusiasts were common this past week. However, the vast majority of the hovering insects weren't bees; they were flies.