By Will Rowlands In early May, The New York Times ran a couple of pieces about “Murder Hornets.” Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia) are, in fact, dangerous, they kill dozens of people every year in China, Korea and Japan, where they are sometimes called murder hornets, tiger hornets or great swallow bees. In late 2019, they were found in two locations in northern Washington and a couple of places in nearby British Columbia, across the Strait of Georgia. Early genetic testing indicated that the Canadian colony came from Japan while the Washington hornets were from South Korea. Unfortunately, they’ve managed to overwinter. In May 2020, new specimens were found in…
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AHGA Hosta of the Year
The American Hosta Growers Association (AHGA) Hosta of the Year for 2020 is Hosta ‘Dancing Queen.’ According to the Missouri Botanical Garden … “ ‘Dancing Queen’ was developed and introduced in 2005 by Kent Terpening of Syracuse, NY, using Hosta ‘Split Personality’ as the seed parent and an unknown pollen parent.” The following description is from Walters Gardens – waltersgardens.com A unique large, yellow hosta from Kent Terpening. Unlike other yellow hostas which emerge or turn chartreuse, ‘Dancing Queen’ emerges bright yellow and remains yellow all season long. The large leaves have a prominent pie crust edge, adding even more pizzazz to this colorful hosta. In mid- to late-summer, the…
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Year of Lavender
The National Garden Bureau (NGB) has proclaimed 2020 to be the Year of the Lavender. To find out more, go to their website at ngb.org, where there’s plenty of information in the form of pictures and presentations. There are many types of Lavender including English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. And, of course, there are a variety of crosses available. English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is the most suited to our New England climate. It’s the hardiest and several varieties have been trialed to overwinter reliably through Zone 5. The following description is from NGB … “English lavender blooms sit on spikes rising tall above a gray-green base of leaves. Both the…
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Invasive Management in May & June
We list only mechanical control options below. Many thanks to Emmett Varricchio for developing the calendar. See it in full on the CIPWG website at cipwg.uconn.edu under 2018 Symposium Presentations. If you don’t get to it at the prescribed time, just remember that the best time to manage invasives is NOW! CUT/MOW: Delays/prevents seed production and depletes plant’s resources. Follow-up often as necessary. Repeated mowing is an effective control strategy for some plant species. PULL/DIG: Effective at removing seedlings and annuals. Organize volunteers and have a pulling party. Japanese Knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)Cut/mow mid-May to mid-June: Schedule three to four times a year. Can be effective, but don’t leave cuttings to…
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Jumping Worm Update
By Annise Dobson Many of us have grown up thinking that earthworms are a sign of healthy, fertile soil. Recently, a bigger, faster, and incredibly abundant earthworm has been showing up in Connecticut farms, gardens, and forests. Earthworms can be beneficial in their native ecosystems and agricultural settings, but their ability to re-engineer soil can completely restructure ecosystems and the microbial, plant, arthropod and vertebrate communities that live within them. Native Earthworms in Connecticut While its true that most earthworms you will encounter are non-native,we have a small number of native earthworm species in Connecticut. Thelast glaciation is thought to have pushed earthworms out of Connecticut, but Dr. Tim McCay…
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Black Swallow-wort – Monarch Menace
By Will Rowlands Black swallow-wort (Cynanchum nigrum) is an herbaceous, climbing, perennial vine that can grow up to 6 feet in length/height. It can climb by twining or ramble on the ground. It’s native to the Mediterranean coasts of France, Italy, Portugal and Spain and is considered invasive in Connecticut. It was reportedly cultivated in greenhouses in Ipswich, Mass. and the Harvard Botanical Garden where it escaped into the wild. Its botanical synonyms are Cynanchum louisae and Vincetoxicum nigrum. Common names include Louise’s swallowwort, climbing milkweed and black dog-strangling vine. This plant will take over meadows, pasture, old fields and quarries, hedgerows, vacant lots, roadsides, river banks, transportation and utility…
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Dandelion – Sunflower of Spring?
By Will Rowlands Why do people go to such extremes to get rid of dandelions? There are many good things about the plant and very little bad, unless you consider the amount of work and herbicides expended in trying to get rid of them! Dandelions (Taraxacum spp.) haven’t always been considered weeds. Quite the contrary, they’ve been prized for their beauty, eaten, and used in medicine and magic. They were reportedly considered delicacies by the Victorian gentry, who used them in salads and sandwiches. It is likely they were brought to the U.S. intentionally for culinary and/or medicinal purposes. Dandelions were used for centuries by the Celts, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks,…
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Welcome Bugs Into Your Yard
YOU MIGHT JUST SAVE THE WORLDBy Douglas W. Tallamy UNFORTUNATELY, we humans are now in a position to declare victory in our long war on insects. The United Nations’ Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services has found 1 million plant and animal species, mostly bugs, to be at imminent risk of extinction. Industrial agriculture, millions of miles of road hazards, unnecessary lights, overuse of pesticides, habitat elimination, tens of millions of acres of sterile lawn and the widespread displacement of native plants have caused a 45 percent decline in insect populations just in the past 40 years. Originally published in the Washington Post on Feb. 20, 2020 To…
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The Connecticut Flower Collective
By Anne Rowlands EARLY LAST YEAR Michael Russo contacted me about the new Branford-based Connecticut Flower Collective (CFC). Michael – a CG contributor, floral designer and flower farmer at Trout Lily Farm – wrote, “This is so new, exciting and happening for the Connecticut floral scene … It will be a bit bumpy and a diamond in the rough to start, but I believe a progressive and forward thinking concept for the Connecticut floral community.” The concept had been tossed around for several years among a core group of flower farmers who decided to make it a reality. They knew there were plenty of floral designers wanting local materials, and…
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The Marsh Botanical Garden is Blooming
By Susan Gonzalez While leading a group of Girl Scouts on a tour of Yale’s Marsh Botanical Garden not so long ago, curator Kunso Kim spoke about flowers’ dependence upon bees, butterflies, and birds for pollination, and what the plants provide their pollinators in return – the nectar that is their food. This story first appeared in YaleNews on Dec. 2, 2019 Kim, who became associate director of the botanical garden late last year, also emphasized for the children the symbiotic relationship between plants and humans. “We cannot exist on earth without plants,” he said. “I touch upon aspects of conservation with them at a level that is easy for…
