I recently visited two landscapes in southwest Ohio with medium sized red maples (Acer rubrum) there were heavily infested with cottony maple leaf scale (Pulvinaria acericola). However, I would not have known the trees were infested had I not walked beneath their canopies.

Check out this week's Turfgrass Times - covering a little bit of everything turfgrass! 

"Is my winterberry a male or female?" "I thought I bought a female and a male but I don't have any berries." 

Comments and questions like the ones above usually come during the fall or winter when the bright red berries begin to show up on Ilex verticillata, winterberry. But at that point in the season it is too late to tell. If you purchase a female but don't have a male (or the right male) and end up with no berries, you may think that you bought a male and go out and buy another female. 

Winterberry is dioecious, meaning there are separate male and female plants...

Woolly Alder Aphids (Prociphilus tessellatus, family Aphididae) produce large, white fluffy colonies on the branches of their namesake host (Alnus spp.). Their appearance has been variously described as looking like white pom-poms, cotton candy, or white hair covering alder branches.

Tree of Heaven and Sumac blooming: A PERFECT time to differentiate! And who cares? Spotted Lanternfly, an invasive that may be headed your way!

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is beginning to bloom in NW Ohio. This perennial prefers full sun but can tolerate some light shade. The garden location should be fertile, moist and well drained, but once established it is drought tolerant. 

Everyday in Extension, questions come in through the office via telephone calls, emails, samples and/or photos. Ohioans seeking information turn to Extension as a source of research based information.

Homeowners in southwest Ohio were surprised yesterday to awake to find sidewalks, cars, and streets beneath Callery pears (Pyrus calleryana) covered in a fine sprinkling of orange dust. The unusual event spawned rampant speculation on social media and captured the attention of the local news media.

Check out this week's Turfgrass Times - lawncare, weeds, diseases and insects oh my! 

Leaf scorch on plants may be caused by many factors. Here is a case study of an "unusual" cause that will be properly diagnosed only through questions asked by the diagnostician.