Take Care of Your Hanging Baskets
Hanging baskets are a staple of summer, bringing a pop of color and brightness to empty spaces on porches and decks. However, they require extra care and maintenance as their free-floating nature renders them more susceptible to the elements—namely an increased exposure to wind and sun. This leads to drier soils, making it necessary to frequently monitor hanging baskets to meet their watering needs.In especially full baskets with a variety of flowers, roots can become packed together and dry out even faster.
Check the soil texture at least once a day and water accordingly, increasing to two or more times on particularly hot and sunny days. Provide baskets with a healthy drink until water runs through the bottom, ensuring moisture will reach all of the roots evenly and thoroughly.
Baskets may also benefit from a trim, especially if you see the center of the basket starting to thin out or turn brown. Cut back your cascading stems by one third to help the plant push new growth out of the center.
Scout for Glossy Buckthorn
Glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus ) is an invasive shrub or small tree spreading through disturbed areas, forests, wetlands, and edges across the Northeast. This plant leafs out early and retains its foliage later into fall. By doing so, it shades out native plants and disrupts natural forest regeneration. Look for smooth gray bark with prominent lenticels, alternate glossy leaves, and small fruits that change from red to dark purple or black. Birds eat the fruit and spread the seeds. Management is most effective when plants are removed before fruiting, using a combination of cutting and targeted herbicide application to prevent resprouting. Follow the label and all state regulations when choosing to use herbicides. Young or small plants can be manually removed.
Interesting Insects: Smaller parasa
Smaller Parasa slug moths are very small with a shaggy mane of green hairs and a thick green band on its brown forewing. Normally slug moth caterpillars are seen in August- September.
The caterpillars of all slug moths have no legs- instead of crawling they glide along by means of medial suckers. Most slug moth caterpillars have urticating spines which can cause a painful sting if touched, and on some species, like the smaller parasa, the spines are hidden until the caterpillar becomes alarmed. The caterpillar shown was found on a pin oak on Horsebarn Hill, UConn.
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