“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” – Mark Twain After so many months of watching the whites, grays, and…Continue Reading What’s Bugging You? – Messy Gardens
“The dandelions and buttercups gild all the lawn: the drowsy bee stumbles among the clover tops, and summer sweetens all to me.” – James Russell Lowell It’s Pollinator Week, a week dedicated to halting and reversing the decline in pollinator populations and recognizing the valuable service they provide. There are plenty of resources out there…Continue Reading Pollinator Friendly… Lawns?
It’s time to revisit my 2015 post about ground bees. That entry was intended to help people understand the critter in their yard, but people want to know – what can I do about them? Recommendation 1: Let them Bee. Ground bees are not like the common honey bee, nor are they similar to yellowjackets….Continue Reading Ground Bees – What Can I Do?
Protecting bees and other pollinators has become an important social issue. But beekeeping, and the 20,000 species of bees worldwide, have been providing livelihoods, much of our food supply, and important biodiversity for thousands of years. Today, we help celebrate the first official World Bee Day as proclaimed by the U.N. through their food and…Continue Reading World BEE Day 2020
PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 | Courtesy Paul Hetzler, CCE St. Lawrence County KEMPTVILLE, ONTARIO. — On my twice-monthly drive on Highway 416 between Prescott and Ottawa, I pass the sign for Kemptville, a town of about 3,500 which lies roughly 40 km north of the St. Lawrence. It has a rich history, and no…Continue Reading In praise of messiness
[OK … so this isn’t strictly IPM. But it does shed light on a glorious native plant that gets a bad rap for making the allergy-prone among us miserable — and its weedy relative, found in city and country alike, that’s to blame. An IPM solution? Prevention, for one — education about weeding weedy city…Continue Reading It’s Hay Fever Season — and the Culprit Unmasked
Protect Pollinators. With these new Forever stamps, released on August 2nd, It’s all about the bees and the butterflies. Here, the monarch butterfly and western honey bee symbolize the thousands (yes, thousands) of native bees, hover and flower flies, beetles, wasps, butterflies, and moths at work throughout the Northeast, and across the continent on behalf…Continue Reading Of pollinators and postage stamps — forever
It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want — oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so! — Mark Twain For IPMers who answer homeowner questions, what many people want…Continue Reading Dandelions? Wasps? Mice? For Every Season There Is a Purpose (But It’s Not Always Obvious)
Let’s start with a short pre-blog quiz: which of these native insects pollinate plants? bees moths beetles all of the above — plus flies, wasps, butterflies, moths The answer? #4. If you left out flies and wasps because they freak you out … well, just know there’s scads of different wasps and flies — not…Continue Reading pollination potpourri: wasps, moths, flies, beetles, and oh yes … bees
The sound of buzzing in our ears is one that evokes terror. Even as an entomologist, I can only stand the sound for a short time before I involuntarily swat at my winged assailant. If this is your reaction too – know that you’re not alone. Our distress over the buzzing of a flying insect,…Continue Reading All Buzz and No Sting