Hemlock and outdated lace
Q: There was loads of concern and plenty of posts on our Bella Vista Neighbors web site about easy methods to inform the distinction between Queen Anne’s lace and hemlock. There’s loads of Queen Anne’s lace right here, and a few have reported hemlock, so persons are nervous. Footage have been posted of each. Are you able to contribute something extra that will assist differentiate between the 2 crops? I nonetheless see you as our plant professional.
A: Poison hemlock and Queen Anne’s lace are within the carrot household and do look considerably comparable. They’ve comparable foliage and an umbel flower (a flat cluster of particular person white flowers that make up a full flower head). On Queen Anne’s lace, the flowers are usually flatter in form, whereas the umbel on poison hemlock is extra rounded. Queen Anne’s lace has a small purple flower within the middle of the cluster of blooms, whereas all of the blooms are white on hemlock. Two extra variations could be famous on the stems. Poison hemlock may have purple blotches on the sleek stem, whereas mature Queen Anne’s lace will likely be stable inexperienced and bushy. The College of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service has extra data and pictures of poison hemlock right here: arkansasonline.com/704hemlock/. Hope this helps.
Hibiscus hero
Q: I moved into a brand new impartial dwelling place and located this plant [the reader sent a photo]. On the time there have been solely useless white stalks. Endurance paid off. Leaves are purple and inexperienced. I’ve two pink and three white on completely different crops. Are you able to inform me what they’re? The crops are nearly 4 toes tall and have many buds.
A: The plant in query is a hardy hibiscus. The crops produce woody stalks, they usually have large flowers in June and July. After a killing frost within the fall, they’ll die to the bottom, however they return the following spring. The crops can have inexperienced or pink foliage with pink, pink or white blooms.
Nonetheless time for some summer season flowers
Q: I purchased some summer-flowering bulbs on clearance at Walmart and marvel if it is too late to plant and higher to attend till fall. They’re gladioli, columbine and Asclepias. I need to add coloration in a mattress that’s primarily tiger lilies (which have bloomed and dropped). Will they overwinter or should be replanted yearly? I do know the lilies do; I’ve divided them 3 times already they usually’re due for one more.
A: I might plant the gladioli and the Asclepias (milkweed) now. They’re each nice summer-flowering crops, and it’s best to have time for them to get rising and nonetheless bloom this summer season. Retailer the columbine in a cool place and plant within the fall, since they’re a late winter/early spring bloomer. They’d not take the extreme warmth proper now in any respect effectively. All of those crops ought to be perennial crops.
Brown spots plague tomato crops
Q: I’ve planted tomato crops in containers for a number of years. That is the primary time I’ve seen this explicit downside. I’ve a Huge Boy tomato plant that has developed brown spots on a number of stalks. Is there something I can do to cease this from creating on the remainder of the plant? It already has a number of massive inexperienced tomatoes on it.
A: There are loads of tomato ailments and if you’re reusing the identical potting soil from 12 months to 12 months, the issues will begin sooner fairly than later. Whereas there are spray schedules for tomato crops, you need to spray pretty usually to forestall them. As soon as they begin, then it’s troublesome to cease it. A number of of the ailments, comparable to Septoria leaf spot, will persist and transfer up the plant, however it’s best to nonetheless get a harvest with out spraying. If you end with this crop, throw away the outdated soil, clear the pots and begin recent for a fall crop or wait till subsequent spring.
June bug searching
Q: Within the (July 3) response to a reader that had leaf depredation on a plum tree you advised Japanese beetles might be the perpetrator. I’ve had loads of expertise controlling June bugs, whose harm could be comparable. When my spouse and I retired we moved to southwestern Arkansas and planted fruit bushes. We have been inundated with June bugs or chafer beetles. We took issues into our personal fingers — actually. We hand-picked the bugs from bushes throughout the yard. June bugs are fairly straightforward to select since they don’t chunk to defend themselves and — since they do their work at evening — appear to have few pure predators. My spouse and I might spend a little bit a couple of hour every evening on our circuit from tree to tree. The June bug inhabitants appeared to peak in keeping with temperature and humidity, which differed annually relying on climate. We might seize the June bugs and put them into a big container and freeze it on the finish of the evening. As soon as frozen, we’d consolidate them into massive plastic baggage and share them with a neighbor who had chickens. The chickens cherished the bugs, and we bought free eggs. Primarily based on my nightly seize information (2007-2014), I calculated that we collected greater than 60,000 June bugs! Now our inhabitants is manner down.
A: You may have extra persistence and stamina than I do. Nice job!
Retired after 38 years with the College of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Janet Carson ranks amongst Arkansas’ greatest identified horticulture consultants. Her weblog is at arkansasonline.com/planitjanet. Write to her at P.O. Field 2221, Little Rock, AR 72203 or electronic mail [email protected]
The ethereal white Queen Anneճ lace has feathery foliage and a flat, spherical flowerhead. (Particular to the Democrat-Gazette/Janet B. Carson)
Mature Queen Anne’s lace has inexperienced, bushy stems. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Celia Storey)
The stems of poison hemlock have purple blotches. (College of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service)
The leaves of hardy hibiscus might be pink or inexperienced, relying upon situations. (Particular to the Democrat-Gazette)
