Back in the spring, I wrote a BYGL alert about winter injury to roses.  THANKS to everyone for their feedback and response as to what's being seen around the state.  It seems that the general consensus is that all types of roses experienced major dieback with damage clear down to around four to six inches above the graft.  Some lost a few roses completely but the majority of the roses have recovered nicely according to most.  Winter injury reports came from all around Ohio as well as from Detroit.

 

It still drives me crazy to drive around town and see the old dead wood...

It's often impossible to identify the insect culprit responsible for causing holes or jagged margins on tree leaves if the perpetrator has left the scene. Unless there is a clear association between the tree species and a pest, we rely on dubious "it could be" speculation to solve a bit-and-run.

I posted a BYGL Alert this past Tuesday about an unidentified flea beetle attacking sedum in Ohio [see "Sedum Conundrum and Passionate Plea," June 26]. I called the beetle the "Sedum Flea Beetle" in my report.

American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is one of my favorite native wildflowers. In my opinion, there is nothing else that rises from our waters to rival the allure of this aquatic beauty; except perhaps for walleye and largemouth bass.

Participants in today's OSU Extension, Hamilton County, Master Gardner Volunteers Diagnostic Walk-About at Glenwood Gardens were treated to the handiwork of the Sunflower Headclipping Weevil on purple coneflower. The damage included dangling seed heads and stems that looked like soda straws.

We reported on cedar-quince rust on hawthorns in a BYGL Alert! a couple of weeks ago [see "Rusty Hawthorns," June 14]. The disease is so common on hawthorns it's become an annual BYGL missive. However, we were surprised by recent observations of cedar-quince rust occurring on Callery pear.

Beginning this year, the Ohio Arbovirus (arthropod-borne virus) Surveillance Update can be found on the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) website at http://www.odh.ohio.gov/arboupdate.  The table will be updated each Monday through mosquito season.

Mosquito season is here.  The ODH Zoonotic Disease Program, in partnership with ODH Laboratory, local public health partners and sanitary district partners, collects and tests mosquitoes from many communities in Ohio as part of statewide mosquito-borne disease surveillance...

The OSU Woodland Stewards Program offers educational workshops, programs and tours throughout the year. The classes are always listed on their website, but here is a special shout out for three programs you don't want to miss.

In early October, 2011, I received a phone call from a homeowner in eastern Cincinnati who said brightly colored beetles were destroying her Sedum x 'Autumn Joy' (family Crassulaceae). I visited and found that a flea beetle that I'd never seen before was doing so much damage it was hard to identify the plants.

 

While there has been an increase of gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) sightings in northwest Ohio, specifically in Lucas and Fulton Counties, late last week some of the leaf eating caterpillars appeared to be dying. Upon closer inspection, it appears that entomophaga (Entomophaga maimaiga), or the gypsy moth fungus, is doing the trick.

 

Gypsy moth caterpillars killed by the fungus entomophaga typically die hanging vertically from the tree trunks with their prolegs stretched out laterally. Caterpillar appear to shrink in girth and become somewhat...