One of the most often asked vegetable questions during this early season is “How soon can I plant my tomatoes and peppers in the garden?”  There are two reasons that the northeast Ohio gardener’s rule of thumb is “wait for Memorial Day” before planting out the tender annuals like tomatoes, peppers and green beans.  The first reason is the possibility of a frost is almost eliminated by waiting until Memorial Day.  Those tender annual plants like squash, tomatoes, green beans and peppers, cannot tolerate a frost event or even lower temperatures at all!...

Several types of "oak-apple" galls are now obvious on the leaves of their namesake oak hosts in Ohio. These unusual plant growths range in size at maturity from 1/2 - 2" in diameter and are named for their resemblance to apples.

Volutella leaf blight and stem canker on pachysandra is a significant problem in landscapes this Spring. When serious, this disease may call for a renovation of the bed, including mowing, debris removal, and consideration of protective fungicides.

 

This time of the year, some areas can be accumulating growing degree days (GDD) pretty rapidly, while in other areas it is a slower process. Joe Boggs reported to some ENLTers last week that the Cincinnati area broke a record and experienced a 90 degree day. It's truly a different story in Toledo. We have been on the receiving end of lots of rain and much cooler temperatures. There have been some days where our low and high temperatures added together didn't add up to 90. 

 

To illustrate the differences that are occurring in the buckeye state, I have looked at...

 

I was walking today and came upon a sweet smell. Excitement built as the fragrance intensified only to be disappointed. The fragrance was a familiar spring scent that I only remembered when I saw the plant. Its white to light yellow flowers hung against its silvery green foliage - yes you guess it - autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). This deciduous plant can be consider a small tree or shrub. The stem, buds and leaves are covered with scales that are silver in color. 

 

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Like other plants, wildflowers bided their time in Spring this year. In recent weeks, though, the display was wondrous. From bloodroot to trillium, to the luck of the bluets, woodland flowers are ever magical.

Fothergilla flowers are showing us stamens, white filaments topped with pollen-bearing anthers. The female pistils are lower on the flower stalk, not in the same blossom, thus these are monoecious rather than perfect flowers. There are no petals. Our horticultural fothergillas are hybrids of two native species.

I've received a number of reports recently from landscape managers and arborists of thin cylindrical strands of white sawdust appearing to ooze out of small holes in the trunks of recently planted trees. These delicate, odd looking structures are sometimes called "frass toothpicks" and are the calling card of Ambrosia Beetles. They also indicate trees are in serious, irreversible trouble.

Have you ever experienced this - noticing something for the first time, yet realizing that you must have seen it for years without realizing it was there. That was the experience of a group of plant lovers earlier this spring. Oh, my, what we were missing. Beautiful red flowers, unfamiliar, on a familiar tree.

The overwintered eggs of Oystershell Scale are hatching in Ohio with first instar nymphs (crawlers) afoot in the southwest and northwest parts of the state. This is a critical event because the mobile crawlers are susceptible to a number of control options that are not effective against other scale developmental stages.