Legumes for the Landscape
What are legumes? And why do we want them in the landscape? Legumes are plants which produce bean-like pods of seeds and produce their own nitrogen, with the aid of a nitrogen-fixing bacteria. By putting more legumes in the landscape, we can help our gardens flourish and reduce the need for extra, synthetic fertilizers. Nitrogen […]
Insect Eggs – Exploring the Garden
What kinds of insect eggs can you find in the garden? During the summer months, I work a lot, from 6 to 5 every weekday. Where do I find the time for hunting bugs, insect eggs, and other things in the garden? Well, I spend most of my lunch period each day hiking woods and […]
Swallowtail Butterflies in Your Garden
Attracting swallowtail butterflies to the garden is something many gardeners strive for. Why do we love swallowtail butterflies? It is because these butterflies are large, showy, and fun to watch. Even as a child I watched the large yellow and black striped Eastern Tiger Swallowtail swooping and landing on the garden phlox in my grandmother’s […]
Aphids in the Garden and Landscape
Aphids can be a real tricky problem to manage. These tiny little pests are one of the most annoying insects in the garden, if you let them be anyways. Most of the time, you will not even see them, because it is only when populations explode that we see pests at all. And aphids can […]
What are Nativars and are They Better?
I have had very heated discussions over the use of nativars with my purest friends in the native plant community. They prefer to use only true from seed native plants in their gardens, but I think selected varieties can be combined with true natives. It is worth digging into. So, what are nativars? Nativar is […]
2020 Year in Review – Insects
The year is winding down and it has been a doozy! We have seen an exponential growth in the green industry, thanks in part to people staying home for the pandemic. More people tried gardening this year than I can recall ever before. At the season’s end, I like to take the time to go […]
Plant Sucking Insects
This is quite a literal statement; there are a number of small insects that suck plant juices. This damage to the plant stresses them, often causing mottling or stippling, and is difficult to treat without insecticides. Let us delve in to the world of plant sucking insects. Insect Mouthparts – Piercing/Sucking There are a number […]
Bagworms
Check your shrubs and trees for bagworms! Bagworms are usually found on evergreen trees but will feed on just about anything (We noticed some on a sycamore tree). If you look closely, you may see the small bags on your trees. They may not look very intimidating but they love to eat and can cause […]
Year in Review – Insects of 2019
Although 2019 is not quite over yet, with the early snow and extreme temperature changes, the majority of insects have begun their hibernation periods and so we can discuss this year’s populations. With the advent of extremely wet weather ( over 70 inches of rain in Northeast Kansas) we have seen a population explosion in […]
