what to do about fall webworm? (usually, nothing)

Learn About Pear Tree Pollination

The Chervil or Anthriscus cerefolium is a delicious annual herb that never fails to create a solid impression in kitchen gardens and outdoors with its lush green look. With a unique, sweet, peppery flavor that loves to grow in cool, shady spots, it can be a superstar plant to grow at home.

There’s an ugly truth behind those beautiful alstroemeria, dahlias, and roses we adore—80 percent of them are grown overseas and imported on gas-guzzling jets—often soaked in pesticides—despite the fact that they can be grown right here in the U.S. These blooms are often called “fresh” cut flowers, but they’re anything but. 

The solitary mason bee is a North American native pollinator that deserves more attention and respect. Honeybees do a lot of pollinating, but they are not native, their populations are in decline, and they are not as efficient at pollinating as some other species, including mason bees. Learn more about this humble bee and how to support it in your garden.

In an oval roundabout in Menston a dozen Poplar trees were planted in the 1970s. As you can see only about half survive and these have been mistreated by polling them to restrict height.

Sugar shortages have hit the U.S.—and they might mean that it costs you way more to stock your bowls with Halloween candy this year.

Peacock

If you’re keen on health trends, you might be hearing the buzz around maca root. If you haven’t, though, don’t fret: You won’t be seeing maca next to the other root vegetables in your local produce section, despite its many benefits. So, what is maca root, and how does it impact us? Where can you find it, and is it worth seeking out? Read on for everything you need to know.

Choosing to start vegetable plants from seeds allows gardeners the freedom to try varieties that are not readily available as transplants, such as heirloom varieties. It also allows gardeners to get transplants ready and, in the ground, quicker than they might be found in the garden center. Not only does starting transplants from seed save time, it also saves money. For example, ten heirloom tomato plants started from seed is much cheaper than buying those tomato plants from a retail store.

HGIC is receiving numerous calls about “spider-looking” webs on the ends of tree branches. The culprits are fall webworms (Hyphantria cunea). The webs are filled with 1 inch long caterpillars with a black to reddish head and a light yellow to greenish body with 2 long black stripes. They are covered in long, white hairs. Fall webworms are native to the US and attack 90 different species of trees including pecan, hickory, persimmon, sourwood, walnut, beech, birch, cherry, and crabapple to name a few. These voracious caterpillars will eat the foliage, sometimes nearly defoliating the tree. When the caterpillars mature and leave the web, they will pupate and overwinter in tree bark or leaf litter at the base of the tree. Call HGIC 1-888-656-9988 for helpful control information.

APPARENTLY MRS. ANDRE’S TOMATOES succumbed to “tiny insect things that will not leave our garden alone,” we hear this week from Himself, who very sweetly shared the actual sympathy postcard he drew for Herself on the occasion of her lost tomatoes.

HAVE YOU VISITED OUR Urgent Garden Question Forums? And if not, why not? (I felt I had to ask.) Read what they’re about…or just go. And while you’re there, upload photos of your sick/beautiful/unknown plant and get it promptly healed/admired/identified.