Foto Friday
by Leslie Cox; Friday; June 15, 2018
I have a real love affair with hostas with over 80 in our collection now.
This photo depicts the large leaf of Hosta ‘Blue Umbrellas’.
Spilosoma virginica – Virginian tiger moth
by Leslie Cox; Friday; June 15, 2018
The description and information about the Virginian tiger moth is now posted. Go to “In the Garden” on the menu bar, select “Insects We Have Found” in the dropdown box, and select “Spilosoma virginica” in the list under “Pests”. (Or…click here for the quick link to the page.)
Details about yellow woolly bear moth
by Leslie Cox; Thursday; June 14, 2018
The week has run away with me! Too busy weeding and trying to keep up with the rhubarb harvest. Result: I do not have the life cycle details uploaded on my website yet for Spilosoma virginica…yellow woolly bear moth.
Game plan is to have it posted this evening, so please check back!
In the meantime, details about Hyphantria cunea…fall webworm moth…can be found here. Keep a watch out because I have been finding more of these guys in our garden. Thankfully, none have been caught mating but who knows?!!
New gardening tip posted
by Leslie Cox; Monday; June 11, 2018
If you are busy deadheading your rhododendrons and have some of those sticky spent blossoms to deal with, don’t despair. I have posted a couple of tips to help you get the job done with a minimum amount of frustration. Click here to read about the tips.
Garden Tip: Deadheading sticky rhodo blossoms
by Leslie Cox; Monday; June 11, 2018
Deadheading a rhododendron can be quite a chore at the best of times…especially if it is a tall one like our beautiful ‘Anna Rose Whitney’. And we have two of those!
Not only is ‘Anna Rose Whitney’ very tall, but the spent blossoms are very sticky. So sticky, they cling to your gloves, or bare hands if you prefer to deadhead without gloves.
One solution we have found is to don a pair of disposable gloves and slather our fingertips with Vaseline. Works like a dream…the spent blossoms don’t stick at all. However, there is one caveat…you have to keep re-applying more Vaseline.
There is a second solution which I have just recently discovered…deadhead the sticky rhodo blossoms on a rainy day. Preferably after it has been raining for a while and the shrub is thoroughly wet.
I usually stick to inside chores on big rain days in consideration for my arthritis. However, I was falling behind on garden chores so suited up into rain gear and ventured out to tackle some deadheading on the rhodos. I started with a non-sticky rhodo and then moved on to ‘Anna Rose Whitney’ right next to it…without switching to disposable gloves and Vaseline. What a pleasant surprise to find the spent blossoms were not clinging to my garden gloves! (If I could ignore the soaking I was getting from the rain, that is!) Seems wet gloves, as yucky as they are to wear, work every bit as well as Vaseline!
Happy deadheading on those rhodos!
