I love getting emails from people concerning the landscape. After all, with more than 300 acres, there are probably things happening I’m missing. And in the chaos that is Commencement and Reunion, I was missing a big one. Professor Jeff … Continue reading →…Continue Reading Satin Moth
Part of my absence from the blog would be teaching my winter term class “Trees and the Urban Forest” again this semester. It’s a great class, in a super rushed sort of way all winter term classes probably are. As … Continue reading →…Continue Reading Emerald Ash Borer Presentation-This Wednesday
Gardeners, and especially Vermont ones, seem to like to share maxims. Like “Don’t like the weather? Wait 5 minutes.” My Nebraska wife said she’d heard that one out there too, so don’t go thinking that our weather is more strange … Continue reading →…Continue Reading Japanese Beetles
Once you see one, you start seeing them everywhere. The first warm rain in the spring makes these spores appear on Red Cedar (Juniper) trees, completing part of its life cycle. Red Cedar is a first-growth conifer pretty common in … Continue reading →…Continue Reading Cedar Apple Rust
I’ve been reading quite a bit this fall in various newspapers, web sites, etc. about the science of leaf change, and I thought, well, heck, there goes another blog post. I don’t see the sense to retread ground others are covering. By now, you’ve probably read that leaf color changes by the shortening of day-length […]…Continue Reading Leaf Color
The study of plant diseases made me terribly depressed in school, but also made me laugh on occasion. I imagined two plant pathologists walking around, looking at sick leaves. Of course, each of them wouldn’t admit to the other that they didn’t know or recognize some strange disease, so they’re making up names as they […]…Continue Reading Big Huge Icky Giant Tar Spot
My most depressing year at the University of Vermont would have been my junior year. All plant and soil science majors took Plant Pathology that year, two semesters worth. For all of you non-science plant geeks, plant pathology deals with diseases of plants-basically anything except insects. Virus, fungi, bacteria, even abiotic problems were addressed. After a […]…Continue Reading When Good Plants go Bad