Although late winter is generally the ideal time for pruning chores, many of our spring-blooming shrubs are best pruned immediately after flowers have faded. Trees and shrubs that bloom in early spring, such as forsythia, lilac, honeysuckle, quince and spirea, set their flower buds the previous fall, referred to as “flowering on old wood”. If[Read More…]
Resources for landscapes and gardens in the Midwest
Landscape Report
Spring provides a great opportunity to kill insects that winter in vulnerable stages on leafless twigs, or on last year’s hardened off evergreen leaves or needles. The absence of tender leaf tissue makes it possible to use higher concentrations of oil that can kill insects without harming the plant. Dormant oil applications can have the[Read More…]
There may still be time to protect Prunus spp. from Taphrina leaf curl. Do you remember seeing red, curled, distorted, leaves on Prunus spp. last year and wondering what might have caused this symptom? Taphrina leaf curl, a fungal disease that survives in bark and bud scales, infects peaches and nectarines as well as ornamental[Read More…]
Colorado blue spruce is not native to Indiana (no spruce is!), and it often suffers from environmental stresses such as drought, excessive heat, humidity, and compacted or heavy clay soils—making it an already poor choice for our landscape. If that weren’t enough, it also suffers from needle cast diseases. Needle cast is a generic term[Read More…]
Fill in the blank: Apply crabgrass preemergence herbicide when____________is in bloom. If you said forsythia, you would be correct. Most of us have been told the answer to this for many years, but have you ever thought to yourself, ‘Is it true?’ There are many ways that people make decisions on when to apply herbicides. [Read More…]
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