As a committed crabarian, I cringe along with everyone when driving into a town or walking along a street and seeing the barren, defoliated canopies of certain crabapples this summer and now into the fall. Out darn scab! (double apologies to W.S.).

 

Symptoms of apple scab on...

Osage-Orange has long been one of my favorite trees. What's not to like? Grows anywhere, has glossy, dark green foliage and deeply fissured orangish-tan bark with great winter interest. Just don’t stand or park your car under female trees at this time of the year.

I spent a rewarding evening yesterday learning from members of the Cincinnati Chapter of the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS) while leading a diagnostic walk-about at Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum. Our first stop was to view a large oak sporting an "aerial display" of Porcelain-Berry.

Need 100 one and a half gallon ornamental grasses planted?  Just put out an "all hands on deck" call to OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers and they get the job done in  less than an hour!   This is exactly what we did in Clark County in order to complete our border planting in the Snyder Park Gardens and Arboretum (SPGA).  The border consists of more than 4000 daffodil bulbs, a river of daylillies and now Schizachyrium scoparium 'MinnblueA' or Blue Heaven little bluestem.  The idea is that after the spectacular daffodil bloom in the early spring, the bluestem will come up and help to...

At some point each season, I have come to expect receiving at least one phone call or e-mail message from a concerned Ohioan reporting they’ve found Giant Asian Hornets in our state. Although there have been no confirmed sightings of these hornets in North America, I never reject such reports out-of-hand.

I got a phone call from a homeowner in southwest Ohio who said they had an aphid problem on willows. They described the situation as huge numbers of aphids dropping from large willows onto their home, driveway, and barn; sticky "sap" raining down on everything; and all manner of things acquiring a blackened patina.

Now that fall is officially in the air, a number of insects and spiders are poised to make their way into Ohio homes. Indeed, with the recent spate of cool temperatures, I've gotten a few reports of gnat-like Hackberry Psyllids (Pachypsylla spp.) buzzing around homes and various spiders marching across floors.

I received a phone call yesterday from an Ohio landowner asking what was "killing" his Eastern white pine trees. Coincidentally, I was driving past a row of white pines with several trees looking pretty ragged owing to their normal shedding of inner needles at this time of the year. Although normal, it can sometimes be dramatically synchronous with all of the inner needles turning reddish-brown at once.

During a recent visit to Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield, I was treated to Angel Trumpets in bloom. These summer-fall bloomers make for spectacular late season WOW! For Ohio growers, these are tropical and frost tender. They would need to be brought in each winter as Kingwood Center does, however a big pot and some TLC might be worth it for these show-stoppers.

 

Angel’s Trumpets, Brugmansia spp., are woody shrubs or small trees with large pendulous flowers. These huge trumpet-shaped flowers in total can be a foot long and come in white, yellow, orange, red or...

My wife tasted her first pawpaw fruit yesterday which is hard to believe since she's been married to a native West Virginian for over 30 years. She loved it … the fruit; her West Virginian remains a day-to-day challenge.