How much do squirrels eat, and how do we interpret numbers that we read? These and other questions will be addressed here.

Spring marches forward at the Secrest Arboretum of the OSU Wooster Campus. Enjoy the river birches, the fungal and insect galls, and the marcescent beech leaves and watch for more developments soon as Growing Degree Day accumulate.

Overwintered eastern tent caterpillar (ETC) (Malacosoma americanum) moth eggs are hatching in southwest Ohio; a sure sign that spring has sprung. As their common name implies, the caterpillars are accomplished tent-makers displaying their silk handiwork in branch forks.

Mukdenia rossii (Mukdenia), is a perennial plant (hardy to USDA zones 4-8) well suited to Ohio gardens, yet it remains known only by a few gardeners. This native of China forms  a low-growing rhizomatous clump 8-12” tall and 1-2 feet wide (though it will take years to form a clump that large!). In China it can be found on rocky slopes and ravines, which tells us something about growing it in our own gardens.

Many among us have found ourselves confined to quarters over the last few weeks.  During times like these, I find I have more time to be observant in my yard and garden, resulting in the inevitable shout of, "WHAT IS THAT????"   Perhaps some of you too are noticing new plants or critters as you soak up the sun on days like today!  While out walking my cat, Mew Mew, (a superstar plant-lover in her own right) we got ourselves tangled up in some winter annual weeds, Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) and  Catchweed Bedstraw (Galium aparine).  

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Everyone anticipates spring’s arrival and subsequent awakening of plants from their winter slumber. If you’re like me, every plant exhibiting signs of life is exciting: from the complex flowers Acer saccharinum to the showy flowers of the magnolias, all are welcome. At Secrest Arboretum you can find many plants that remain unknown to the average gardener, but there is one plant that seems to remain in obscurity-Helleborous, or...

Popping up in many landscapes, along edges of roads, and in woodlots where old homesteads had once been throughout Ohio are the perennial daffodils or jonquils.

BYGL Writers love BYGL Readers. Here are a few of your recent e-mail reactions to BYGL-alerts

Tom deHass (OSU Extension, Lake County) showed pictures during this week's BYGL Zoom Inservice of heavy bark-stripping damage he observed in Pete's Pond Preserve in northeast Ohio. I've also received reports and images of damage occurring elsewhere in Ohio.

I was so thrilled that finally here in NE Ohio we have a FIRST report instead of our typical lagging behind the rest of the state!  The first detectable disease of the year is noticeable on turf as a necrotic area with an apparently PINK border!  The fungal pathogen involved is Microdochium nivale and the disease is commonly called Pink Snow Mold (PSM).

 

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