The genus Rhododendron, which includes both azaleas and rhododendrons includes over 1000 species in the Ericaceae. Let us enjoy them now.

It's not for dinner - but as a snack...red maple seeds are not bad.

Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) and wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) are two of our nastiest non-native weeds found in Ohio. Poison hemlock is one of the deadliest plants in North America. Wild parsnip can produce severe, painful blistering. Both are commonly found growing together.

Four-Lined Plant Bugs (Poecilocapsus lineatus, family Hemiptera) are one of the sneakiest, quickest hitting spring pests found in Ohio. Hordes of hungry bugs descend seemingly out of nowhere to cause extensive leaf damage, then they just fade away leaving behind their foliar wreckage.

Have you seen this flowering plant?  Don't be fooled by the beauty of Dame's rocket...

After some hard rains this past week, I received a call from a very concerned citizen, wanting to know if their tree was in trouble.  The citizen was frightened that this had happened and didn’t want to lose the trees, because there was a pile of soap bubbles coming from the base!  My first thought and initial response was… YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS ABOUT TREES BLOWING BUBBLES??  Of course, the only thing I could do was ask if they could send me pictures to see what was going on with the tree!

 

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I've posted a number of BYGL reports over the past several years of a leafminer on wild buckeyes (Aesculus spp.). I first ran across the leafminer in a park near my home in Butler County, OH. However, the culprit was unknown; it had never been classified by science.

Quotes - about plants and not - are a great way to make a point - or are they? You decide.

What began in 1950 as a young sapling, Camp Canopy (formerly known as Ohio Forestry & Wildlife Conservation Camp) has grown into a mighty oak as one of the most popular summer camps among high schoolers in Ohio, hosting 10,000+ campers since its inception. Many students have taken what they learned during their summer(s) spent at Camp Canopy and have gone on to study natural resource disciplines at their post-secondary institutions. Others have simply learned a ton of cool stuff related to forestry and wildlife in Ohio. Either way, Camp Canopy’s legacy will live on in generations of...

I identified the culprit behind the elm sack galls pictured in the BYGL Alert posted yesterday as the aphid, Tetraneura ulmi. However, thanks to input from Dan Potter (University of Kentucky, Entomology), I learned that the true identity is actually another closely related elm gall-making aphid, T. nigriabdominalis.