The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI) is encouraging all Ohioans who have grown common milkweed this season to harvest seed pods and take them to a participating Soil and Water Conservation Office. The Annual Milkweed Pollination Collection is in its third year in Ohio. In 2015, 7 counties piloted the milkweed seed pod collection. The project has grown and it is estimated that over 22 million seeds have been collected by volunteers across the buckeye state over the 3 years.  

I had never seen or heard of the poplar tentmaker until we ran into this unusual caterpillar on its namesake host during the Greater Cincinnati Diagnostic Walk-About last Monday at the Boone County Arboretum. In fact, it took me awhile to identify this seldom-seen defoliator.

Jewelweeds or touch-me-nots are common in eastern woodlands, as two species, the yellow Impatiens pallida and the orange Impatiens capensis. There are more jewelweeds than meet the eye, however. Read on.

Blue-winged wasps are continuing to make low-level flights over lawns in southwest Ohio. As their common name implies, the wasps have dark blue wings. Their legs and thorax are also dark blue. However, their most distinguishing features are two light-yellow spots at the top of their orange-tipped abdomens.

If you're ever visiting Cincinnati during the dog days of summer, keep your eyes peeled for a fascinating non-native lizard scurrying over rock walls, darting across sidewalks, and lurking in landscaping. These lizards are intriguing because the story of how they got to Cincinnati and their ascent to equal treatment amongst native reptiles is almost unprecedented for reptiles in Ohio.

Last week, Emerald Ash Borer University (EABU) hosted a webinar on the Spotted Laternfly (Lycorma delicatula). The session has been recorded and is available online for viewing. The presentation is free, as well as other past EABU educational sessions. 

Participants at last week's Greater Cincinnati Diagnostic Walk-About were thrilled to view the unusual leaf symptoms caused by the Redbud Leaffolder on its namesake host. Or, maybe it was just me who was thrilled. Most of the leaf damage this season is produced by the current 3rd generation caterpillars.

Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) is potentially the most devastating non-native pest to have ever arrived in North America. The beetle kills trees belonging to 12 genera in 9 plant families. This includes all native maples, a preferred host. Successful eradication is essential to avoiding a catastrophic loss of trees on a scale never before seen in the U.S.

The annual migration of monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippusis) has begun. It has to be an amazing adventure if you are the butterfly, or spectacular site if you are a person able to observe the migration in progress.

I believe no other insect upstages Beech Bligh Aphids in entertainment value. During a visit to a Lake County, OH, park last Thursday, Jim Chatfield and I came across a cluster of these engaging aphids shaking their woolly derrieres in what appeared to be a synchronous samba. All we needed was "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty" by KC and the Sunshine Band blaring in the background to complete the effect.