Since my last post, the news has been full of one weather disaster after another. Wildfires in Maui. The remains of Hurricane Hilary moving north into California and other parts of the western USA with moisture even streaming as far east as Wisconsin. Record-breaking heat and humidity across most of the continental USA and severe weather outbreaks in the Midwest and Northeast. This does not even include the typhoons, floods, droughts, and heat waves occurring in other parts of the world at the same time.… Continue reading this article “Preparing your landscape for extreme weather”
Month: August 2023
Diagnosing Disasters: The Case of the Mopey Mophead
This past week I was out of town at a conference, and since the week was supposed to be a scorcher I made sure my husband was going to water the container plants daily. And indeed, temperatures were in the 90s, dropping to the mid-60s at night. But the container plants looked great when I got home and I didn’t think much more about it until the next day. My husband called me into the living room, pointing at our massive mophead hydrangea which looked like it had been torched.… Continue reading this article “Diagnosing Disasters: The Case of the Mopey Mophead”
Plant Disease Primer: Part 1 – Shaping up the causes, signs, and symptoms of disease
Throughout the garden season, extension professionals all across the country get to play detective when trying to diagnose plant diseases and recommend specific controls or preventative measures. We often have to put on our Sherlock Holmes-esque thinking caps and our standard issue detective’s magnifying glass (or microscope) to diagnose plant maladies.
Having a basic understanding of diseases, how they function, and what they look like is key. Gardeners who bring samples or pictures into our office often get exasperated when we play twenty questions trying to figure out if it is a fungus, bacteria, or virus (or something else) causing the issue.… Continue reading this article “Plant Disease Primer: Part 1 – Shaping up the causes, signs, and symptoms of disease”
Beneficial Bicarbonate?
The hot weather that stimulated the last blog is still with us! Keep up the mulch and occasional watering to help shade trees. Today I want to cover a topic that seems like a garden myth but actually has considerable science behind it. Bicarbonate! The miracle cure for all garden pests? No. My wife came across an article in her news feed about a ‘garden guru’ who touted baking soda as a miracle cure for powdery mildew and other “blight” diseases.… Continue reading this article “Beneficial Bicarbonate?”