What's in this Issue:

#2 Lynne's Backyard Gardening Tips

#3 New Gardening Product of-the-Month

#4 Odd & Strange Gardening News

#5 Great Plant of the Month

#6 Invasive Plant of-the-Month

#7 Garden Pest of-the-Month

#8 Feedback - Anonymous

Messenger - Eden Bioscience

Messenger® is based on a new proprietary technology called Harp-N-Tek. This technology is based on a family of naturally occurring proteins called “harpins”. Messenger, Mighty Plant and Puffer seed treatment contain harpin. Harpin proteins stimulate natural reactions in plants that enhance disease resistance, growth, and flowering. That means healthier plants, more flowers, more fruit, and your best garden ever!

Messenger®, which is made by a company called Eden Bioscience, is classified as a plant health regulator. Messenger® offers gardeners a highly effective and environmentally safe tool to suppress diseases, enhance bloom, encourage growth, and regulate overall plant health. HarpinEA, the active ingredient in Messenger®, is one of a family of proteins produced in nature by bacterial plant pathogens. The discovery of harpin was published in Science in 1992, and formed the basis for the harpin protein technology platform developed by EDEN BIOSCIENCE.

Messenger® is harmless, but acts as a signaling molecule. It signals the plant that there is a pathogen present and that it should mount a defense, similar to a vaccination. The result is a healthier plant with far more flowers! Based on its beneficial properties and favorable safety profile, Messenger was granted the U.S. EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 2001. The primary benefits to gardeners who use Messenger® include less diseases, more flowers, larger root systems, and enhanced overall growth.

Broad Spectrum Plant Uses

Messenger® has been extensively tested in many gardens, agricultural fields, and greenhouses in major growing areas throughout the world. The product has activity across a broad spectrum of crops, including:

• Flowers
• Vegetables
• Fruit trees and vines
• Turf
• Field crops

In nearly all of our tests, Messenger® has been shown to suppress diseases, boost overall growth and flowering. It also improves the plant’s ability to grow and protect itself from stresses caused by adverse environmental conditions. No matter what you grow, your garden will have a better ability thrive despite the challenges Mother Nature can cause.

Butterfly Facts

Largest: The Queen Alexandra Birdwing Butterfly from New Guinea has a wingspan of up to 12 ½ inches.

Fastest: Hawkmoths can fly up to 30 miles per hour.

Longest Life Span: Monarchs, & Mourning Cloaks can live for about 6 ½ months.

Ancient Fossils: The earliest butterfly fossils are about 130 million years old from the Cretaceous period.

Butterflies Stages of Life: Butterflies go through 4 life cycle stages in their lives:

The Egg: Butterflies start their life as an egg usually laid on a leaf.

Larva: This is where the larva caterpillar hatches from the egg. It eats leaves & flowers nearly constantly where the caterpillar will increase in size up to several thousand times.

Pupa: This is where it turns into pupa (cocoon) which is a resting phase.

Adult: Finally the butterfly emerges from the pupa / cocoon.

Butterfly Food & Gardens:

Successful butterfly gardens have plants that meet the butterfly’s needs during all 4 life stages from egg all the way to adult. Butterflies can be attracted to your garden by providing them food, water, shelter, and places to lay their eggs. Butterflies love nectar and growing nectar rich flowers will go a long way in doing that.

When you plan your garden use a mix of flowers that bloom much of the year so there is a steady supply of nectar all season. Butterflies also like sunlight & shade so provide a place for them to be in both zones. Note: Do not use chemical insecticides in your butterfly garden. Some of the more popular and easy to grow flowers for butterflies include:

• Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
• Lantana
• Zinnias
• Bee balm
• Purple coneflowers
• Pentas
• Sage
• Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
• Other milkweeds
• Lilac
• Sunflower
• Marjoram
• Hebe

Quick-Snap

A new type of in-ground lawn sprinkler system that needs no trenches for underground pipes. The new sprinkler system is easy to install, easy to adjust and easy to use. And it's available at a fraction of the cost of other in-ground sprinkler systems. It works off a garden hose. By using a patented adapter attached to an in-ground sprinkler, the homeowner merely snap-connects a hose at ground level to the in-ground sprinkler.

The saving in equipment costs is fantastic! An average-size lawn of approximately 10,000 sq. ft. can be watered by an in-ground sprinkler system purchased for less than $200. Not only can the homeowner save thousands of dollars in costs over a totally in-ground system, he can take it with him when he moves.

This new in-ground lawn sprinkler system promises to be a big advance in the lawn care market because it meets the need of an entirely untapped market segment - homeowners who hate dragging sprinklers around, but cannot yet afford a totally in-ground system.

While the patented device can be attached to almost any brand of sprinkler, AutoWater, Inc. is selling it in combination with K-Rain’s ProPlus Sprinkler as a Quick-Snap Sprinkler ™.

"The ProPlus is a professional quality sprinkler. It’s the simplest and easiest sprinkler to aim with precision," says Vivian Hylton, AutoWater’s president. "And with a spray distance of up to 40 feet and an flow arc from 40° to 360° , its the most versatile, too. Two sprinklers can cover a 40’ by 60’ yard.

"The difficulty for most people with end-of-hose sprinklers," says Hylton, "is that they have to continually move their sprinklers around to water their lawns. But once the Quick-Snap Sprinkler is buried, it never has to be moved or re-adjusted. The user has only to aim the sprinkler once. When it's not in use, the pop-up sprinkler automatically retracts and the adapter is folded down to ground level. Then, he can mow right over it.

Each sprinkler comes with instructions and hose connectors.
Click to read Full Article...

Ginko Biloba

Scientists thought that it had become extinct, but in 1691 the German Engelbert Kaempfer* discovered the Ginkgo in Japan. The Ginkgos had survived in China and there they were mainly found in monestaries in the mountains and in palace and temple gardens, where Buddhist monks cultivated the tree from about 1100 AD for its many good qualities. From there it spread (by seed) to Japan (around 1192 AD with some relation to Buddhism) and Korea.

Ginkgo-seeds were brought to Europe from Japan by Kaempfer in the early 1700's and in America later that century. Most of the earlier trees raised in Europe appear to have been males. The first recorded female tree was found near Geneva in 1814 of which scions were grafted on a male tree in the Botanic garden of Montpellier where the first perfect seed has grown. Now the tree grows in many countries all over the world as an ornamental tree. Note: The Chinese Ginkgo biloba survived essentially unchanged.

Medicinal history

The seeds (baigo) are most used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the leaves in western medicine.

In Japan the seeds are called ginnan. The Japanese way of using Ginkgo as a medicine originates from the Chinese tradition.

The earliest record of the use of the leaves as a medicine is said to be mentioned in the Chinese Materia Medica Shen Nung Pen Tsao Ching (which should originate from about 2800 BC or from the Han dynasty [206BC-220AD]) as an aid for blood circulation and the lungs.

Russian Sage

Plant type: Woody, multi-stemmed sub-shrub Hardiness: USDA Zones 3 to 9

This sturdy plant is characterized by its upright and shrub-like shape, slender stems and finely-cut silvery-gray leaves, which are aromatic and resistant to the browsing of deer.

1995 Perennial Plant of the Year! This woody multi-stemmed sub-shrub is easy to care for and is a low-maintenance plant. Silvery-green delicate foliage is complemented by striking lavender-blue flowers. Produces 12-inch spiky blooms from July through frost; when in full bloom, creates a misty-blue haze. Has an airy habit. Flowerheads and silvery stems have added winter interest. Performs well even in hot and humid climates. Plant size reaches four to five feet tall by three to four feet wide.

A genus in the Mint family that includes only 4 species, all aromatic subshrubs with silvery foliage and an open branching habit. The best of these is a native of Pakistan named P. atriplicifolia, and it's one of the great garden plants of all time.

This semiwoody perennial carries a cloud of small blue flowers on widely arching stems that grow 3-4ft tall and as wide. The effect is a charming, airy haze of soft blue against silvery gray, pungently aromatic foliage.

Culture:

Tolerant of poor soil, drought and a range of pH, this plant can grow in a variety of conditions. Plant in full sun and a well-drained site. You can plant from spring until one month before frost. In spring, cut back to about six to eight inches from the soil surface. In warmer climates, Russian sage benefits by deadheading to produce another flush of blooms. In colder climates, leave flowerheads for added winter interest. No serious pest or disease problems.

Chocolate Vine

The Flowers are chocolate-purple in color, inconspicuous, and give way to purple flattened seed pods. Fiveleaf akebia is shade tolerant and invades forested habitats. The dense mat of vines formed can displace native understory species. It can also climb into, smother, and kill small trees and shrubs. Fiveleaf akebia is native to eastern Asia and was first introduced into the United States in 1845 as an ornamental.

Habitat:

It is shade and drought tolerant and can invade many forest habitats. Its growth appears to be restricted only by the height of the object it is entangling.

Ecological Impacts:

The dense mat of vines formed can displace native understory species. It can also climb into, smother, and kill small trees and shrubs. It grows so quickly that, if left unmanaged, it can kill off existing ground level vegetation, understory shrubs and trees, and even some canopy trees, by overtopping and smothering them. Once established, its dense growth prevents seed germination and seedling establishment of native plants.

Control and Management:

• Manual- Cut to the ground; dig up; remove roots; repeated throughout the season.

• Chemical- It can be effectively controlled using any of several readily available general use herbicides such as glyphosate or triclopyr. Follow label and state requirements.

Black Vine Weevils

The black vine weevil, Otiorhynchus sulcatus (Fabricius), has been reported as being accidentally imported from Europe and was first detected in Connecticut in 1910. However, there is evidence in the scientific literature that this species was actually detected in the 1830's. It was probably introduced along with some plant material brought from Europe. Mainly through movement of ornamental plants, the black vine weevil has been spread across much of northern North America from Maine to the Carolinas and west to Washington and Oregon.

Life Cycle

Female weevils emerge from soil pupation chambers late May to early July. These weevils must feed on plant material for 21 to 45 days before they are ready to lay eggs. After the preoviposition period has passed, the females place several eggs each day into the soil or leaf litter nearby suitable host plants. The weevils hide during the daytime at the base of plants or in mulch and leaf litter near food plants. Adults may live 90 to 100 days and usually lay 200 eggs during this time.

The eggs hatch in two to three weeks and the small C-shaped, legless larvae feed on plant rootlets. The larvae grow slowly over the summer, molting five to six times. By late fall the larvae have matured and are about 5/8-inch long. The mature larvae enter a quiescent prepupal stage in an earthen cell and pupate the following spring. A single generation occurs each year.

Control of Black Vine Weevils

These weevils are difficult to control once established because of their nocturnal behavior, the subterranean habits of the larvae, and the lack of natural predators or parasites.

Habitat Modification - Egg and larval survival is helped when soil moisture is moderate to high in July and August.

Biological Control Using Parasitic Nematodes - The nematodes have been effective for controlling black vine weevil larvae, especially in potted plants. Sufficient water must be used during application to wash the infective nematodes into the soil and root zone.

Soil Drenching with Insecticides - This technique has not worked well for larval control unless moderately soluble, long residual insecticides are used. Most pesticides get bound up in the organic matter under plants and never reach the larvae.

Foliar Sprays of Insecticides - Since the adults are active after dark, the most common method of control is to place a stomach poison on susceptible plant foliage. Because adults are active for a long period, several sprays may be needed. Early applications are encouraged so that adults are affected prior to their egg laying period.

Feedback Form