I once wrote a poem of the seasons of dawnredwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides.  Let us deconstruct, starting with the name of this majestic tree, for as the Chinese philosopher Krishtalka noted: “The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right name.”

  The Latin binomial itself is telling: “meta-sequoia” means “like-sequoia”, and dawnredwoods are related, in the Cupressaceae family, to the true redwoods, Sequoia and Sequoiadendron. The “glyptostrob-oides” refers to another sister genus in the Cupressaceae, Glyptostrobus....

Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense, family Poaceae) is a non-native perennial grassy weed that is becoming a serious problem in Ohio landscapes and nurseries.

Monday's 19th Annual Bluegrass-Buckeye BYGLive! (BBB) was held at the Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, KY, where participants viewed the handiwork of the distillery fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis.

  Springtime comes to Autumn in the Eugene and Judy Pouly Domaine and Chatfield tables this evening: we shall be dancing around our Maypoles. No, we have not fast-forwarded the seasons. Instead we are enjoying the fruits of springtime flowers. To the point, ‘Maypole’ crabapple fruits turned into sauce so sweet and yet so sour.

  At Johnson Woods Nature Preserve near Orrville in Wayne County, there are many wonderful plants including towering oaks and beeches and sourgums.  There are birds including barred owls that are a hoot to hear in matched pairs from across the preserve.  This past weekend the fungi were having a real coming out party following recent rains.  Squirrels, including black squirrels, were clucking away. And stinging nettles were fruiting; something I had never noticed before.  

 

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  The Umbrella Magnolia Grove (Magnolia tripetala) at OSU’s Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, for almost a century was a revered place: a protected place from non-lightning rainstorms, a place for rituals of many a kind, a wow place for children, a favorite of now-retired Secrest curator, Ken Cochran.

I came across a small webworm nest yesterday in an American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua). It strongly resembled an early instar Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea) nest; however, fall webworms are just about finished for the season. 

In the past few weeks, I have received multiple questions from farmers growing pumpkins, asking what is going on with the pumpkins!  When pressed about what they were seeing, the response is always a “come out and see for yourself” and so I usually do!  For me, plant problem diagnostics are ALWAYS more accurate and effective when done hands-on, using my own senses and asking those pertinent or impertinent questions to get at the answers!  In these cases of the great pumpkin patch puzzle, they would pick perfectly healthy looking pumpkins, wash the dirt off of rinds and put them into bins...

Although the growing season is winding down, Extension offices in Ohio are continuing to receive questions regarding redbud leaves turning brown after being folded over or "glued" together.  The culprit is the Redbud Leaffolder (Fascista cercerisella; order Lepidoptera; family Gelechiidae).

The native Common Roseslug Sawfly and Curled Roseslug have largely been supplanted by the non-native Bristly Roseslug Sawfly. This sawfly has multiple generations per season with the larvae continuing to produce feeding damage.