Spring cleaning for our landscapes can be a tricky undertaking. We want to dive in a trim everything up, dig it out from under mulch and leaves and start planting, but some restraint may need to be shown so that ornamentals don’t sustain damage in the process. There is a rule of thumb that goes…
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Louisville, KY recently conducted a study of its urban canopy and the results, which were just made public, are distressing to say the least. The city has been losing approximately 54,000 trees per year for the past several years, that amounts to the mortality of about 150 trees per day! Katy Schneider, co-chair of the Louisville Metro…
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Oak wilt is a tree disease affecting oak trees caused by the fungus Ceratocystic fagacearum. The disease has been found in 21 states causing the most damage in the midwest. It was first found in Wisconsin in 1944 where localized pockets of mortality were found; nearly half the oaks an area of less than…
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A study recently published in the journal “Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution” discussed ants’ ability to collectively search in zero gravity conditions. Researchers were happily surprised to find this when a collective of ants were taken to the International Space Station to study how these insects adapt to low or no gravity. While ants did still…
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Named “Methuselah” for its extreme inveterate growth, the 2,000 year old Judean date palm has produced viable offspring! Agricultural expert Elaine Solowey from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura in Israel shared the good news with National Geographic; “He is over three meters [ten feet] tall, he’s got a few offshoots, he has…
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Spring is a wonderful time to plan trips to the beautiful blooming gardens accessible to citizens around the world. National Geographic’s book Four Seasons of Travel ranked the top 10 gardens around the world, and while I won’t necessarily visit every famous piece of art while traveling abroad, I never miss a spectacular botanical garden…
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Native to the U.S. and New England, red pine, Pinus resinosa, populates many areas and has also been widely planted for its aesthetic appeal and to increase diversity of the white pine, Pinus strobus, dominated landscape, adding to soil conservation, wildlife mast and habitat and protecting other species from wind. Recently, however, red pines have,…
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The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW) is a pest which, unfortunately, can develop resistance to commonly applied insecticides if and when they are applied too often or incorrectly. Some turf care specialists call this “making them angry”…and you won’t like them when they’re angry. Turning the tide on insecticide resistance can be very difficult, they best…
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In research recently published in the journal Plos One, entomologists from the University of Florida postulate the emergence of a “super termite” created from the interbreeding of Asian and Formosan termites. These species of subterranean termites are some of the most destructive in the world, now there is alarming evidence that these species are interbreeding…
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Many of us are still dealing with snow on the ground while other areas have already accumulated 1 growing degree day; growing degree days are a heuristic (an efficient problem solving approach employed to find faster, imperfect, yet sufficient solutions) tool for assessing phenology (the study of plant life cycle events and how they are…
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