On Wednesday, May 23, a program all about trees and some of their threats will be offered at the OSU Mansfield Campus in Mansfield, Ohio. It will be a day filled with tree-mendous topics and speakers.

I spotted one of my favorite insect predators darting about on forest trails yesterday: Six-Spotted Tiger Beetles. Their common name is well justified as these tiny "tigers" hunt, kill, and eat other insects. They are equipped with huge eyes for excellent eyesight, long legs for agile speed, and huge mandibles for grabbing prey.

Boxwoods with light brown to golden brown leaves are common this spring in Greater Cincinnati. Some of the leaf browning is due to winter injury; some was caused by salt damage. However, a close examination may also reveal the telltale blister-like leaf symptoms caused by the boxwood leafminer.

Now that the Emerald Ash Borer has infested Lake County, Ohio, many Green Ash trees in the landscape and forest woodlots have died. But the real danger is right overhead. With dead trees and wind combined, it can be a costly and deadly combination. A tree that shows severe infestation will die within the year. The danger is these trees soon become a fall hazard and need to be removed before injury or property damage occurs.

Last Friday, Larry Parker (Cincinnati Parks) sent to me the images below of Boxelder Bugs (Boisea trivittata, order Hemiptera) hanging out on a park's building. 'Tis the season.

With these rains the lawn is beginning to grow and the weeds are not far behind.  Some of the earliest emerging broadleaf weeds have begun to emerge.  The biggest problem with weeds in turfgrass is reduced aesthetic value, although some weeds can out compete turfgrass when management is reduced.  Smooth and large crabgrass, yellow foxtail, and annual bluegrass are the most frequent annual grass weeds in turfgrass.

Why in the name of all that is horticulturally holey do we continue to see mulch piled around tree trunks to stratospheric heights? What is the appeal? And, why can't we stamp out these mulch monstrosities despite years of educational efforts?

Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsute)

 

While temperatures remain cold, and even an occasional snow flake takes flight, there is weed that is giving it is all this spring. That weed is hairy bittercress. While it has been lurking in gardens all winter long, it is flowering its little heart out and setting seeds right now in northwest Ohio.

 

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Driving south on I-71 on Wednesday, I was mesmerized by a deep purple veil creeping across fields like smoke on the water. The purple haze, all in my eyes, made me wanna drive 'til I ran out of highway into the purple sky.

Our slowly developing spring is a real boon to us procrastinators. If you exercise caution by performing a close inspection of what lies beneath, there may still be time to make a non-selective herbicide application to control Poison Hemlock without wiping out preferred plants that have not yet sprung for spring.