doodle by andre: plum tuckered out

North Carolina State Extension wrote an excellent publication on terrestrial flatworms, with common species around yards and gardens in the Carolinas called land planarians or hammerhead worms: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/terrestrial-flatwormshammerhead-worms.

I recently had a call from a South Carolina resident who lost power for more than 24 hours and wanted to know whether the foods in her freezer would be safe to eat. This is a very common problem in South Carolina winters and could easily affect you in the coming months.

Garden Sprouts is a program I run at the South Carolina Botanical Garden that is designed for preschoolers and caregivers. This class takes place once a week for three months every spring and fall. The goal is to share age-appropriate nature-based activities with children, who are mostly three to five years old, but sometimes younger or older. Over time I have learned the caregivers also learn things they never knew, enjoy the activities immensely, and are able to connect more deeply to the natural world through this program. The structure of this hour-long program is three-fold, we begin inside with a book related to the theme of the day, a walk or outdoor activity, and finally a craft. In this blog, I would like to share some of the books, outdoor activities, and crafts we have done in this class.

Our South Carolina water resources help producers grow the crops we eat, supply drinking water when we turn on the tap, and support industry and our outdoor lifestyle. It is important to recognize how we use water in our community so that we can each do our part to help conserve this important resource. Do you know who is the biggest user of water in South Carolina? It may not be who you think.

The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis) is not easy to miss – adults of this large, black beetle with white spots, black and white striped antennae, and blueish feet are between 1 and 1 ½” long (Fig. 1). ALB larvae are equally striking as the large, white segmented larvae can be nearly 2” in length (Fig. 2). Established populations in the U.S. are found in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio, and a new infestation was recently found in Charleston County, South Carolina.

Clemson University’s Cooperative Extension Service is proud to offer a brand new program to the citizens of South Carolina! Many landscape professionals, whether in the private industry, grounds-maintenance, or employed by government agencies, are in constant need of good training resources for themselves and their employees. Many homeowners also want to know that their landscape operators/providers have the skill set necessary to deliver consistent, high-quality service.

Copperhead snakes (Agkistrodon contortrix) are found throughout South Carolina and are one of the six venomous snake species, out of 38 total snake species, that our state has.

Rob Last reports, “Strawberry crops are developing well; however, we are seeing gray mold phomopsis blight in some crops.  Sanitation can really help prevent botrytis from spreading as we move forward when allied to fungicide applications. Keep scouting for spider mites as there are active populations in some crops. Now is a great time of year to think about the maintenance of equipment for bed formation, cultivation for spring crops, and most important product application.”

The spring migration of ruby-throated hummingbirds from their tropical winter homes to South Carolina gardens is a highly anticipated event. These jeweled visitors usually arrive in mid-March; therefore, it is important to put up hummingbird feeders by around March 15. Nothing is more exciting than spotting the first arrivals.

The recent news that all Pyrus calleryana cultivars – the most common of which is the Bradford pear – and several Elaeagnus species have been added to the “do not sell” list in South Carolina has generated a lot of buzz and a lot of questions from homeowners. We’ll try to answer some of those questions in this blog post.

The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis, is a non-native moth that has recently been found in a nursery in South Carolina. Native to eastern Asia, the box tree moth has been present in Canada since November 2018. From August 2020 through May 2021, infested boxwood (Buxus sp.) plants were inadvertently shipped from a grower in Canada to several nurseries in the U.S.; a retail nursery in South Carolina received infested plants in May 2021. As of June 1, 2021, the South Carolina detection is being treated as a regulatory incident, and this pest is not thought to have escaped into the landscape. Clemson’s Department of Plant Industry is investigating plant shipments into and out of the South Carolina nursery to determine if infested material may have been inadvertently sold to homeowners and will be monitoring in and around the nursery to ensure this moth has not escaped. If populations are found, a survey and eradication effort will follow.

Daffodils are one of the most reliable spring bulbs for the Southeast. Not all cultivars, though, survive the summer and come back year after year. The following cultivars have a proven track record in the Coastal Plain region, meaning they have bloomed reliably and lasted in my yard for five to 20 years.