Earlier today (12/29/2017), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) posted an eNewsletter designed to keep everyone up-to-date with Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) eradication efforts in the US. While some BYGL readers might receive the eNewsletter directly from USDA, we wanted to make sure as many people are in the "ALB-know" as possible. 

 

Presently, there are active eradication programs operating in three states including New York, Massachusetts and Ohio.

 

While information on eradication efforts in each state is valuable to follow and stay up-...

BYGL reports become sparse at this time of the year with cold temperatures suppressing our subject matter. So, I was surprised last Thursday when I got an e-mail from John Martini, University of Cincinnati's Landscape Architect, with an image taken by UC Planner Joe Willging showing collections of white fluffy material on the branches of an alder (Alnus sp.).

Scouting for scale in the Winter is great use of your time. 

Scale comes in many shapes, sizes and varieties. Last year we saw Oyster Shell, Calico, Juniper, Greedy, Bamboo, Fletcher, Japanese maple, Pine Needle, Brown, Putnam, Euonymus and Magnolia Scale.

Scale is sometimes hard to see when a plant is in full foliage. But in the winter with no leaves on trees and shrubs, except evergreen, scale are easier to see.

Scouting scale in the winter makes sense because there is less to care for outside in the landscape. The following pictures are Scale images on the...

Looking to earn your recertification credits before the end of the year?  The Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Tradeshow and the Ohio State University Green Industry Short Course is a great educational opportunity. 

 

The conference is December 5 - 7, 2017 in Columbus at the Convention Center.  There will be plenty of opportunities to attend educational classes, earn a variety of credits and time to network.  Check out the show website including the educational sessions, tradeshow schedule, and registration information.  Pre-registration deadline is Tuesday,...

This tree has been around a little while in the Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum.  In fact, it's one of my favorite trees.  It's such a popular tree in this garden that we even decided to move the location of a sidewalk while developing our master landscape design in order to preserve this tree.  However, now that it has revealed its identity, I am not sure what we will do.

 

Yes, this particular tree is a ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) and it's a girl.  We had no idea.  For at least the last three years while we have been hanging out at this site, creating a landscape...

In a recent bygl-alert (https://bygl.osu.edu/node/944) I posed this challenge: More wicked (sometimes) plants this way shall come, culminating with Halloween, bygl alert-style. What are your candidates for the ultimate in plant wickedness? E-mail me at chatfield.1@osu.edu.

 

Or at least spookiness of some sort. Here are a few of your responses:

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What are control strategies for managing oak wilt disease? What do we know about beech leaf disease? Does rose rosette virus affect ‘Knockout’ roses? Which crabapples have good genetic resistance to apple scab disease and how does this compare to 20 years ago? Does apple scab on the fruit matter (as seen on the lead slide for this bygl-alert)?

 

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While writing my bygl-alert on Aesculus parviflora yesterday afternoon, Joe Boggs was sending me photos: his latest bottlebrush buckeye beauties. I opened the message, and above and below are those images.

 

Glorious fall! 

 

 

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My, oh my, buckeyes, oh my, the weekend beckons, but for now, let us praise Aesculus parviflora. “No better plant could be recommended as a lawn shrub”, according to W.J. Bean, as quoted in Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. “Bottlebrush buckeye, is my favorite shrub” from an unnamed source in Holden Arboretum’s Plant Profiles, probably Brian Parsons.

 

 

  I concur. Palmately compound leaves with 5-7 leaflets, lovely in spring, summer and fall. Multi-stemmed...

Calico Scale spends the summer as crawlers attached to the main veins on the underside of leaves. Detection can be a challenge with crawlers distributed on foliage throughout the canopy. However, as fall approaches, the crawlers move onto stems where they spend the winter. Clusters of crawlers coupled with blackened stems are key diagnostic features for detecting a calico scale infestation.