Control plum aphids with a mixture of cultural and physical methods, with chemical formulas reserved for extreme infestations. Leaf Curl Plum Aphid Aphids on plum trees that are found inside curled leaves are leaf curl plum aphids. The pests are tiny and have shiny bodies that range from pale green to light yellow in color. The insect produces a high volume of honeydew, which is the excretion of the aphid....

About Fruit Tree Fertilizer Spikes Fertilizing nursery and landscape trees is often a necessity, and this includes fruit trees. Some gardeners note that trees in the wild don’t get fertilizer yet thrive. But this ignores the fact that wild trees profit from the nutrients that come from nature’s recycling process. Also, trees only grow wild where they are best adapted, while trees in the backyard have had a habitat foisted upon them....

Fountain Grass Feeding Most ornamental grasses do not need to be fertilized. Container plants need occasional feeding because they are in a closed environment, but in-ground plants usually do better without extra nitrogen, which can make leaves floppy and cause excess growth and limp plants. If you feel you need to fertilize your plants, you need to learn how to fertilize ornamental fountain grass and, more importantly, what to feed ornamental grasses....

The plant can get a bit invasive in some areas though, but a little information on broom shrubs will help you control the plants while still enjoying their ease of care and brilliant blooms. About Broom Shrub Plants Brooms form small to large shrubs that grow very quickly. The plants have become quite invasive with seeds spreading and sprouting quickly. This speedy development makes the plants a threat to native species....

Budworm Caterpillar Damage and Symptoms Budworms have the audacity to leave behind a lot of black sticky goo that looks somewhat like mouse poo. The budworms are actually caterpillars that seem to have a bit of a “champagne” taste, as they like to attack the blooms on roses, snapdragons, geraniums, petunias, and some other flowering plants. Once the blooms are all gone, budworms will lower their standards a bit and start munching on the leaves or foliage of the plant under attack....

Apple Tree Burr Knots Burr knots on apple trees are particularly common on some apple varieties, especially early “June” cultivars. Apple tree burr knots (also spelled burrknots) are clumps of twisted or knobby growths on apple tree branches, usually when they are three years old or older. This occurrence increases on dwarf rootstocks. The outgrowths can produce both shoots and roots, so if you want to start another tree, you need only prune the affected branch from the mother and plant it....

Composting Corn Husks The husks – these form the outer layer that protects the developing corn – are discarded when you peel them away to expose the corn kernels. Instead of tossing them in the trash, simply toss them in your compost pile. For composting corn husks, you can use green husks, which are removed before eating fresh corn, or brown husks, which are left intact around the ears of corn to be used for harvesting seed or feeding livestock....

Winter Jasmine Information Any type of flower in winter seems like a major miracle. Cold-season blooms are rare but winter jasmine is a scrabbly shrub that will start the gardener thinking of spring sunshine and summer heat. Jasmine has a deeply sweet scent but an interesting piece of winter jasmine information is its lack of scent. Still, these starry, little blooms are magical surprises in a cold-season landscape, and caring for winter jasmine is a low-maintenance chore that makes the plant a lazy gardener’s favorite....

Too much zucchini is a common gardener’s complaint. And harvesting zucchini too late creates another problem. Once they get big, the seeds are a problem and the flesh is not as sweet and tender. So if you are wondering what to do with a lot of zucchini, consider honoring August 8th, national Sneak Some Zucchini On Your Neighbor’s Porch day. What to Do With a Lot of Zucchini Zucchini is a prolific plant once it gets established....

Varieties of Chicory Herb Plants There are two types of chicory plant. Witloof is grown for the large root, which is used to make a coffee supplement. It can also be forced to use the tender white leaves called Belgian endive. Radicchio is grown for the leaves, which may be in a tight head or a loosely packed bunch. Radicchio is best harvested very young before it turns bitter. There are many varieties of each type of chicory....

Treating Bugs in Cauliflower Cauliflower is a versatile vegetable, delicious either cooked or raw. Common signs of an insect invasion may be holes in leaves, tracks on foliage, missing vegetation and poor vigor. Some of the larger insect pests are easy to detect but others are too small or only come out at night, and diagnosis can pose a problem. Knowing the most common cauliflower pests is a good start to vetting the problem and annihilating these annoying and destructive bugs on cauliflower plants....

Issues Affecting Chrysanthemums In many regions, the appearance of late summer is accompanied by the golds, rusts, bronzes, reds, and oranges of chrysanthemum blooms. Every supermarket, big-box store, and nursery is bursting with their charismatic fall color. For the most part, problems with these plants are not a threat to their health, but occasional attacks of chrysanthemum pests and diseases can diminish vigor and affect bloom production. Excess moisture is one of the main threats but so, too, are insects on mums who chew and suck, diminishing plant vitality....

USDA Zone 9 includes areas in Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, California, and even coastal Oregon. It includes both dry and wet regions and coastal and inland areas. Due to this geographic diversity, quite a large number of weed species can show up in zone 9 gardens. Consulting your state’s extension service or their website can be very helpful when you are trying to identify an unknown weed. Common Groups of Weeds That Grow in Zone 9 Identifying zone 9 weeds involves first learning how to recognize the major categories they fall under....

About Gray Mold on Strawberries Botrytis rot of strawberry is a fungal disease caused by Botrytis cinerea, a fungus that afflicts a number of other plants, and is most severe during bloom time and at harvest, in particularly rainy seasons accompanied by cool temps. Infections begin as small brown lesions, usually under the calyx. Spores on the lesions begin to grow within a day and appear as a gray velvety mold....

Reasons for Daffodil Leaves Turning Yellow If your daffodil leaves are turning yellow because of disease, then you may need to destroy the bulbs and start fresh with new, disease-resistant bulbs. Look for bulbs that have been pre-treated with fungicide. Below are the most common issues leading to yellowing daffodil foliage. Basal Rot Basal rot is a serious fungal disease that survives in the soil and becomes active when soil temperatures reach about 55 degrees F....

DIY Coffee Table Terrarium The first step in creating a succulent coffee table is to buy or build a terrarium table. You can purchase a terrarium table online or find detailed instructions for building your own DIY coffee table terrarium. The latter does require some carpentry and woodworking skills. If you’re crafty, you could also repurpose a garage sale find into a beautiful succulent coffee table. If you’re wondering how to make a terrarium table from scratch or an old glass top table, here are a few must-haves to include in your design:...

To ensure that they’ll stick together through shipping and stocking, pebbles or sand are glued into place around the plants. They are basically made to look nice, just long enough for them to be sold. By the time you purchase them, they could have been severely neglected, watered improperly, and sitting on death’s doorstep because of Dreschlera fungus or other rot diseases. Continue reading to learn if you can save a rotting cactus....

Keep reading to learn more about these easy to grow hydrangeas that are not only hardy but bloom reliably each and every year. Oakleaf Hydrangea One of the easiest hydrangea types to grow is the oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia). The leaves are shaped much like leaves of an oak tree, hence its name. These medium to dark green leaves can grow up to 12 inches (30 cm.) wide with a dramatic color change in the fall to shades of red or burgundy....

Uncommon Names of Plants That Will Make You Laugh Here are a few funny plant names that will make you laugh, and we promise they’re all G-rated. Shaggy Soldier (Galinsoga quadriradiata): This is a fast-spreading, weedy plant. The pretty, daisy-like flowers of shaggy soldier have white petals and golden centers, thus the alternate name of Peruvian daisy. Butcher’s Broom (Ruscus aculeatus): Butcher’s broom displays tiny, greenish white flowers on leafless stems....

The good news is there are companies specializing in recycling garbage waste and there are even ways of utilizing old garbage supplies, like old hoses or tools, without adding to our landfills. Garden Related Garbage Non-organic garden waste includes the items mentioned above and so much more. There’s that faded plastic garden gnome who now needs a new home or the pruning shears that seem to be broken beyond repair along with the hose that has kinked its last kink....