Kentucky coffeetree is a native tree that is planted as a tough urban survivor in streetscapes, and is tolerant of limey soils and tree pits (Chicago urban foresters list it as one of their five toughest street trees). It has a starkly coarse yet beautiful appearance in the winter landscape, and its fairly early fall defoliation and late spring foliation make it perfect if long seasons of sun penetration are desired.

Recent storms that have moved through northwest Ohio have brought some much needed rain.  Some of that rain has been accompanied by lightning, high winds and even tornados.  The large oak pictured with this article was strike by lightning resulting in the outward symptom a "lightning scar." 

 

As I was searching for additional information when writing this article, I came across a FactSheet from Purdue University, Trees and Lightning.   It is an excellent resource and describes the range of damage to the tree that can occur during and after a lightning strike.  The...

Thanks to the sharp eyes of Erik 'The Caterpillar Hunter' Draper (OSU Extension, Geauga County), this very rare caterpillar made an appearance at yesterday's 83rd Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop.  The Paddle Caterpillar is the larval form of the Funerary Dagger Moth (Acronicta funeralis, family Noctuidae).

With the return of more regular rains in some areas of Ohio, mushroom production in lawns seems to be going gang busters.  Some view these mushrooms as a mere nuisance, some are freaked out by their presence, and some want to make a meal out of them.  STOP!  One must have an absolute, positive identification before dining on these "free" mushrooms.

 

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Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is one of the most striking annual flowers in our landscapes, flower gardens, and agricultural fields.  The scientific name for the genus comes from the Greek helios which means "sun" and anthos which means "flower."

Over the years, the late-season Beech Blight Aphid (Grylloprociphilus imbricator) has waltzed through the pages of the BYGL on an annual basis.  The aphids have a single venue; they are only found on the twigs and branches of American beech (Fagus grandifolia). 

  The first image of a caladium and coleus window box above is from a walk I took a few weeks ago with the Ohio Nursery Landscape Association’s Executive Director Frits Risor through German Village and Schiller Park there, and then later in the day checking out the crape myrtles planted in landscapes a little further north near ONLA’s World Headquarters in Westerville. A few other items we saw include:

 

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  For the last month the fungal tubes of the “aecial” stage of several cedar rust fungi, namely cedar-apple rust (Gymonsporangium juniper-virginianae) and cedar-hawthorn rust (G. globosum) have been evident on leaf undersides of hawthorns, as seen in the accompanying picture.

  These rust fungi spend about a year and half on certain junipers (in the Cupressaceae family) before microscopic spores of the fungus oozing from galls on the juniper blow in the spring to certain genera in the Rosaceae family such as hawthorns and apples and crabapples.

 

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  I was driving home the other day, and on a bank, under an oak tree, there were some electrifyingly-orange mushrooms cascading down a small slope. BYGL-alert screamed out at me, so let’s take a look. Delightful as they looked to the eye, these would seem to be jack-o’-lantern mushrooms, probably Omphalotus olearius. This mushroom may cause serious gastric distress to those who partake. It is a reminder that you really need to get a positive identification before taking a chance on nature gone wild.

 

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This is the time of the year when it seems that praying mantids are everywhere.  I collected this mantid today from our window screen.  However, the perception that there are more mantids at this time of the season is based on the size of the mantids, not total numbers.