A trip to China often includes a visit to The Great Wall of China, to some part of the 5500 to 13,000 mile collection of fortifications (depending on whether various branches are included).   So, I set out for the Great Wall with my guide Nina during my trip to the Beijing Botanic Gardens for their Crabapple Conference. Nina gassed up a Hyundai and we headed 50 miles northwest and over a half mile in elevation to Badaling (八达岭), the most visited section of the Wall and the first opened to tourists in 1957. From Nixon to Obama, to Nina and me.  

 

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This time of year everyone is anxious to get out and begin planting their vegetable garden. You may have spent the last few months browsing the seed catalogs and dreaming about fresh tomatoes from your garden. Also you may have recently noticed vegetable transplants at your local retailers however this does not necessarily mean it is time to start planting.

Most of my images are of bad things in landscapes. I use these teaching images to illustrate plant threats; sometimes those threats are from people. So-called "volcano mulch" or "mulch mounds" is a good example. That's why I was so thrilled yesterday when I found example after example of absolutely perfect tree mulching at Glenwood Gardens!

Roseslug sawflies were once generally considered only nuisance pests of roses in Ohio. The Common Roseslug Sawfly was most often encountered followed occasionally by the Curled Roseslug. The common roseslug has only one generation and the curled roseslug two generations. These sawflies would come and go so quickly they seldom caused appreciable damage.

The unusual leaf distortion damage caused by the spiny witchhazel gall aphid (Hamamelistes spinosus) is now appearing on river birch in southwest Ohio. The aphid produces raised ribs or "corrugations" on the upper leaf surface that match deep furrows between the veins on the lower leaf surface where the aphids live.

  Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…Well, no, that is truly Fake News. Yet, upon returning from China to Springtime busting out all over in Ohio, I was mesmerized by the buzzing bees and budding birches; the blending of sweet birch catkins and flowering dogwood bracts above. Welcome to the Show! And right here in the Wayne County ChatScape.

 

  Up first, with a nod to China, is a golden-leaved ‘Ogon’ cultivar of dawnredwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides.

 

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  One of the more pleasant e-mails I have received in recent memory was from my friend and colleague Dr. Ling Guo of the Beijing Botanic Gardens. It read: “Jim, would you please come to Beijing for Crabapple Conference in April 14-19 for one hour talk. All expenses paid.  Hmm, let’s see. Yes!  Fortunately, for my talkative nature it turned out to be a bit more than that one hour talk, not including the translations, but what a deal. 

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First generation Pine Needle Scale (Chionaspis pinifoliae) crawlers (1st instar nymphs) are now appearing on conifers in southwest Ohio. This is a type of "armored" scale so-named because of the hard, waxy cover (test) that protects the females. The egg-shaped pine needle scale tests are snow white with a small yellowish-tan spot at the small end.

I first raised the alarm on boxwood leafminers (Monarthropalpus flavus) in a BYGL Alert posted in late March (see "Blistered Boxwoods and Hissing Hedges", March 30, 2017). That report focused on alerting landscape managers that high localized populations were producing heavy leafmining symptoms that could be mistaken for winter injury.

The crabapple plot, called Crablandia in Secrest Arboretum, is located in Wooster, Ohio and will be in full bloom and full splendor, in the next couple of days.  With the onset of multiple periods of unseasonably warm weather, the typical bloom emergence time is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule.  The incredible display of crabapple flowers has traditionally been one of the most popular times to stroll through the Arboretum and experience the amazing fragrance, accompanied by marvelous views of flower petals.

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