Participants at this week’s S.W. Ohio BYGLive! Diagnostic Walk-About held at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden observed the highly visible handiwork of the Magnolia Serpentine Leafmining Caterpillar (Phyllocnistis magnoliella). The moth belongs to the leafmining family Gracillariidae.

Jeff Stachler, OSU Extensioneer in Auglaize County sent the following message this past Tuesday on June 6:

  “A maple tree in the front of a home yard has leaves with the symptoms you see in the photos.  Veins and leaf tips are black with yellow and brown colors below the black.  Is there anything that can be done or should be done?” He also sent the tell-tale photo above, showing “water-soaked” darkish lesions along leaf veins.

 

Right on time. Last June 5, I took a picture of a neighbor’s red maple in Doyletown in northeast Ohio of the same problem: maple...

I recently came across dogwoods growing along a trail in southwest Ohio that were festooned with the frothy, spittle-like masses produced by the Dogwood Spittlebug (Clastoptera proteus); a reminder that there are at least 23 different species of spittlebugs (family Aphrophoridae) in North America.

It’s easy to spot wild hawthorns growing along Ohio trails at this time of the year if they sport gaudy orange-spotted leaves. The spots are the telltale leaf symptoms of Cedar-Hawthorn Rust and the leaf infections can cause hawthorns to stand out among other understory trees and shrubs.

Canada thistle in southwest Ohio is starting to show symptoms of two “problems.” Bacterial infections are causing plants to look like they were dipped in bleach and the feeding damage by the Thistle Tortoise Beetle is beginning to produce see-through leaves.

Insects belonging to the Hemipteran family Reduviidae are collectively known as "Assassin Bugs." The family includes over 160 species in North America and all are meat eaters. The common name for the family clearly describes how these stealthy hunters make a living.

I’ve come to expect seeing some damage each spring from our native Four-Lined Plant Bug (Poecilocapsus lineatus, family Hemiptera). However, their wreckage appears to be particularly heavy this season in some parts of Ohio. The question “where did they come from” is common when hordes of hungry insect pests descend seemingly out of nowhere onto plants to cause extensive damage.

Japanese Tree Lilacs are in full bloom in northeast Ohio. They really grab your attention as you drive by with their showy white flowers that proliferate all over the head of the tree. They make you look twice and admire their beauty and form.

Sometimes you just have to stop what you are doing and appreciate plant life. Kenny Cochran of Secrest Arboretum fame always loved plants in combination, especially after he came back from a trip to Poland with an appreciation of clematis twining up trees, wild-like.  Today Paul Snyder of Secrest sent me a picture of blue spruce needles piercing leaves of Tim Brotzman’s great redbud:  Cercis canadensis Lavender Twist® ‘Covey’ and the two plants entwined. How cool is this? 

 

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Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) plants are rising towards their full height and blooms are beginning to appear in southern Ohio. Landscape managers and gardeners should exercise extreme caution around this non-native invasive plant. Severe blistering can occur if chemicals (furanocoumarins (= furocoumarins)) in the plant juices come in contact with skin and the skin is then exposed to sunlight; specifically ultraviolet light. The effect is called phytophotodermatitis.