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NEWS Check us at this site throughout the year to see what insect and disease problems come along. We'll try to keep you up to date. May 2009 It's looking to be a particularly bad period for lots of shrubs. The winter injury this year is presenting a lot of shrub dieback, even death. Most years we see one or two species suffer, but 2009 is giving almost everything some trouble. Cherry laurel, yews, junipers, boxwoods, rhododendrons, you name it and it's not having any fun. Look at this row of boxwood. They all look dead to me!
Often, its the relatively new plantings that suffer the most, since they haven't had enough time to establish a significant root system in the surrounding soil. But this year even established plantings are in trouble. Here it's some older rhododendrons.
September 2008 I get a kick out of the television newscasters sometimes. At this time of year they all seem to talk up the promise of the fall foliage season. Sometimes I think they work for the board of tourism. Well, this year I'm finding that a lot of sugar maples have had a tough time with leaf diseases. The very rainy summer allowed leaf spots and anthracnose to have a field day. So, lots of leaves are turning shades of brown rather than yellow or orange. To be sure, fall color will be wonderful, just more muted than it could have been.
April 2007 As expected, we're finding a lot of winter damage on evergreen shrubs, especially broadleaf ones such as rhododendron and Japanese holly. Pictures below:
This is on rhododendron.
Some shrubs might dieback a few inches, from the twig tips inward. Other shrubs might have entire sections die right to the base. All this is a result of the warm early part of winter, followed by a real cold snap in February. Some plants just weren't ready for it. Some species have done
January 2007 We understand that this winter is likely to be the warmest on record. While we don't mind the lack of snow, January blooming of cherries and azaleas is a bit silly:
This could make for some interesting events this spring! __________________________________________________________________________ September 2006 We've been noticing that a lot of sugar maples are looking pretty unhealthy. Their leaves are turning more brown than a nice fall color, like this roadside one:
This is a result of leaf infections earlier in the year, mostly from the anthracnose fungus. You might notice it in pockets as you drive around; some areas are heavy, some are light. It'll make for a less inspiring fall foliage season, but the general health of the tree shouldn't be too adversely affected. __________________________________________________________________________ June 2006 The wet weather this year has allowed many kinds of foliage diseases to have a field day. Most years see the sycamores experience a lot of anthracnose and 2006 is very bad:
Anthracnose will appear on many trees this year; here it's on a roadside dogwood:
May 2006 Keep an eye on the work being done by your landscape contractor with spring mulching. Sometimes they get over zealous with the mulch and pile it on too high. This might cause a few serious problems so don't let it happen. Here's what it looks like, with "Lola" in the picture for perspective:
ALERT! This year we have the potential for a problem with gypsy moth caterpillars. They hatched in Monroe the first week of May; see picture :
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To the left is Japanese holly. 
