Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) is found throughout the buckeye state and most of the Eastern United States. It grows naturally as an understory tree or along woodland edges, and is often found in areas that are moist.

 

A single tree can sometimes become a "pawpaw-colony" through root sprouts from the parent plant. The mature height of this tree is 25 feet and the mature spread is 15 feet, when not crowded by other plants. The leaves are rather large giving the plant a tropical feel. 

 

While the plant is noted for its fruit, the flowers are beautiful but...

I opened my garage door this morning to find a seething mass of Pavement Ants roiling around the expansion joint where the driveway meets the garage. This was not an "ant swarm" where large numbers of winged ants (alates) emerge to fly off and mate; it was a full-blown, no-holds-bared ant war

Crabapple bloom was at its best in Ohio this year. Prolonged in southern Ohio, but compressed but spectacular and late in central and northern Ohio. Check out a few highlights here.

Residual pools of standing water left from above average rainfall throughout much of Ohio this spring certainly benefitted mosquitoes. Although our cooler than normal spring temperatures may have delayed the onset of "mosquito season" a bit, our current above average temperatures will put mosquito development into hyperdrive.

Several types of roses in Central and Southern (confirmed by Joe Boggs) were knocked back pretty good by cold winter weather.  While trimming my shrub and carpet-type roses in early April I noticed quite a bit of dead wood.  I had to really trim them back to a height of about six inches.  They are looking great right now as the new growth is vigorous.  I completely lost one climbing rose and another one was killed back to the crown.  The new growth on this one is coming from the root stock.

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The familiar "bzzzzzzz...thud!" sound made by May/June Beetles as they fly around porch lights at night and bounce off walls, doors, windows, startled homeowners, etc., is now being heard in southwest Ohio.

The dichotomous nature of Butterweed may test the tolerance of lovers of native wildflowers. On one hand, a sea of yellow flowers carpeting farm fields flanking Ohio's interstates in the spring provides welcome relief from highway monotony. On the other hand, upright 2 – 3' tall plants bolting seemingly out of nowhere in Ohio landscapes presents a weed management challenge.

 

The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) will soon begin aerial treatments designed to manage gypsy moth populations in Ohio. One management option includes treating young caterpillars in the spring. Counties where these treatments will be applied to designated blocks include:

 

• Franklin
• Fulton
• Hocking
• Lucas
• Marion
• Morrow
• Perry
• Ross
• Sandusky
• Seneca
• Vinton
• Wyandot

 

The treatments aimed at the larval stage will begin early to mid-...

We have a shopping center and hospital not far from my home in southwest Ohio that have parking lot tree planters with honeylocusts, lacebark elms, and a number of other types of trees. The trees provide shade, so they are car magnets. Unfortunately, a considerable number of the trees are heavily infested with Calico Scale.

I've already posted a BYGL Alert on Boxwood Leafminer this season that described its life-cycle, detection, and management. However, I only briefly described one of the most notable side effects associated with this non-native midge fly: odd rustling or popping sounds radiating from heavily infested boxwoods.