A local arborist called me one day and asked if it was possible that I could identify a mushroom.  Sure, I said I could do that and reminded him that identification is always much easier if a sample was dropped off for me to examine.  Later, as I rehearsed our conversation, I remember hearing him chuckle and then saying, “Well, you’re going to love this one”.   I was thinking through a couple of types and shapes of typical mushrooms when I walked into my office the next morning.  You can imagine my surprise when I spied on my desk, the huge fruiting body of Bondarzewia berkeleyi ...

Bristly "woolly bear" caterpillars have started their annual crawl-about in search of sheltered locations where they will spend the winter.  They may be found on sidewalks and walking trails or on the walls of homes and buildings.  Some may be slowly making their way to Vermillion, Ohio, to attend an annual festival held in their honor.

  Over the past five weeks, Wooster Ohio, home of two great institutions of higher education, a liberal arts institution - the College of Wooster, and a land grant institution, Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, and the City of Wooster have provided ample photographic opportunities for horticulturalisms and botanizing. Here are a few, from my light and dark perspectives: 

If you're hiking around Cincinnati on a warm sunny day and spot a lizard scurrying over rock walls or rocky slopes, it's likely to be the non-native European wall lizard (Podarcis muralis).  However, if you ask a Cincinnatian to identify the lizard, they will most likely call it the "Lazarus lizard."

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is in full bloom throughout the state.  Soldier beetles (Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus, family Cantharidae) and locust borer adults (Megacyllene robiniae, family Cerambycidae) are commonly found on the flowers of this beautiful native plant adding to the plant's interest to entomophiles.

I recently came across a bizarre looking caterpillar - it looked like bird poo - while looking on a wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliate) for the white, frothy "egg plugs" of the two-marked treehopper (Enchenopa binotata) and admiring some heavy potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae) damage.  I learned the bizarre looking caterpillar has an appropriately bizarre sounding common name:  the orange dog.

 

The orange dog (sometimes called orange puppy) caterpillar is the larval stage of the eastern giant swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes).  As...

Wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliate) which is also known as common hoptree or stinking ash has garnered considerable landscape interest in recent years owing to its native status in Ohio. However, wafer ash is also a potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae) magnate.

    When considering adding a touch of fall color to your landscape, don’t forget the sumacs.  Belonging to the family Anacardiaceae, some of their notable relatives include cashew, pistachio, mango, smokebush, and even poison ivy and poison sumac.  The genus Rhus, consists of around 35 species and grows in subtropical and temperate regions throughout the world, especially in East Asia, Africa, and North America.

I've received some helpful educational feedback in response to my BYGL Alert posted earlier today extolling the virtues of Maximilian Sunflower  (Helianthus maximiliani) [See Hort Shorts; Perennial of the Week:  Maximilian Sunflower  (Helianthus maximiliani)].

This native member of the Aster family (Asteraceae) has become one of my top favorite plants for naturalized areas.  Of course, there are no perfect plants; Maximilian Sunflowers mix a multitude of virtues with a few imperfections.