Each May, the partners of the Green Ribbon Initiative assemble a wide array of programs to encourage people to get out into the amazing region in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. This globally unique region is home to a wide variety of plants and animals such as wild blue lupine, Karner blue butterflies, blue spotted salamanders, big and little bluestem, blueberries, bluebirds, blue racers and much, much more.  We love our blues! 

Perry Elementary kids find “Bug Museum” Awesome.

Dogwoods are in full bloom in Northeast Ohio. They are beautiful: Whites, Pinks and Pale Pink. However, are you sure that is what you want to install?

Dave Leonard (Consulting Arborist, Dave Leonard Tree Services, Lexington, KY) brought a fascinating gall sample to the Greater Cincinnati Diagnostic Walk-About last week. The woody galls were on hickory (Carya sp.) and sparked an informative diagnostic discussion among the participants.

I came across a number of interesting oak leaf insect galls during hikes this week in several local parks. Oaks are prime gall-fodder providing support for over 800 different types of galls. It's why I find oaks so interesting. Three-quarters of the gall-makers belong to two families: the wasp family Cynipidae; and the "gall midge" family Cecidomyiidae (cecido means "gall").

I've referred to the Kentucky Pest News on a number of occasions in the past. I believe this online publication is a "must read" for Green Industry professionals. This week's posting highlights an important confirmation of a new state record for the invasive and potentially troubling Asian Longhorned Tick

I received an e-mail message earlier this week with images showing colonies of a cyanobacterium, Nostoc commune, growing in openings created by turfgrass succumbing to some other issue. The sender asked me to identify the "black stuff" they believed was killing their lawn.

Participants in this week's Greater Cincinnati BYGLive! Diagnostic Walk-About were treated to an enormous swarm of boxwood leafminer adult flies flitting around their namesake host. The flies are a type of wood midge and belong to the same family (Cecidomyiidae) as gall midges.

What do an estimated 90,000 people from 50 states, 52 countries and 6 continents do each spring? Every year, birders from across the world flock to NW Ohio to see the migrating birds. The Biggest Week in American Birding is underway for the 10th consecutive year. The week officially runs from May 3 - 12 this year.

How Plants Mate is not just for botanists. Understanding the nuances and variability of the different modes is a key horticultural skill, whether plants are dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants) or the vagaries of grafting and making new plants through propagation, How Plants Mate is central knowledge.