Safe Solutions - Mosquito Barrier Will Keep Mosquitoes Out of Your Yard!

You do not have to let mosquitoes chase you, your children and your pets out of your yard this summer. We sell a wonderful product called Mosquito Barrier that will keep the mosquitoes out. At first glance, it seems a bit pricy; but it’s a concentrate and a one quart bottle covers 1.25 acres. We also carry it in gallons. Still, if you’re on a budget like I am, you can stretch the product by using it only where you spend most of your time. I have used Mosquito Barrier around my back deck and from my front door to where I park my car (pretty much right in front of my front door – I live in a townhouse). That way I’m covered most of the time and a one quart bottle lasts me two to three months.

You may notice a strange phenomenon if you treat a small area like I do. When you approach the edge of that area, you may see mosquitoes swarming. Although you’re standing only a few feet from them, they will not approach you. It’s a little surreal . . . like there’s an invisible wall between you and the little blood suckers. They really will not approach you unless you step outside the treated area. Unfortunately if you do so, they will stay with you when you walk back into the treated area. When this happens, you’ll have to kill those pests that come into the area with you. Once you do, you’re mosquito-free again.

One application lasts for two to three weeks and will even continue to work after rainy weather (if it has time to dry thoroughly after application). The directions say you can use a pump or a hose-end sprayer, but we recommend you go with a pump sprayer. Oh . . . and be prepared . . . your yard will smell like an Italian restaurant for hours (or even days) after application.

Message to Spring Vegetable Gardeners from Donna

Be on the lookout for insect pests on your vegetable plants. While hand watering this morning, I discovered leaves on several tomato plants that looked almost like netting. I cut the whole leaf off and turned the leaf over to find lots of tiny, tiny caterpillars - you almost cannot see them. By catching them early and picking off the whole leaf or section of leaves, I can get rid of them before they grow and spread out to the whole plant.

If you are too late and the caterpillars have spread (they are called army worms for a reason!), you can dust your plants with Dipel or spray with Thuricide - both are used by organic growers to specifically kill caterpillars on vegetable plants.

The other pests I encountered this morning were stinkbugs - quite a few of them hanging out together on our potato plants. First I noticed the tips of some of the plants wilting and upon closer look I saw 2 - 3 stinkbugs on each of the wilted tips. My gardening partner, Ann Morrow, and I keep a plastic jar in storage by our garden for stinkbug removal. We have never had a problem this early and never before on the potatoes - usually later in the season on the tomatoes. Put a little liquid soap in the jar and fill about half way with water. Then hold the jar under the infested leaves and thump the stinkbugs in. They will soon drown.

The beauty of hand watering is that you take the time to visit each plant and observe problems before they get too far. I switch to drip irrigation when the watering needs of the tomatoes become greater as summer approaches.

Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and new potatoes are all coming along nicely. We are still enjoying lots of kale, shallot shoots, Swiss chard and lettuce from the winter garden, but that will come to an end soon with the heat!

Meet the American Azalea

While growing up in Tallahassee, I began to recognize the arrival of spring by the show of white, pink, and fuchsia blooms of azalea shrubs. The house I grew up in had large, mature azalea hedges with a variety of different blooms. Every spring, my mom would bring in vases full of them and my dad loved to point out the showy shrubs as we drove through town.

I guess I assumed these plants were native, but most likely I never gave it a thought. I didn’t think to differentiate a native plant from a non-native one. The azaleas we are so familiar with are actually transplants from Asia, favored by the horticultural industry for their fast, vigorous, and dense growth of evergreen leaves and large blooms. Curiously, I have found the lack of these more obvious qualities to be what leads our native azaleas their unique beauty.

I was introduced to native azaleas while working my first spring at Native Nurseries, when, to my amazement, the graceful bare branches exploded with clouds of deliciously fragrant blooms in a variety of colors.

Piedmont azalea in white with pink blush form. (Photo: Lilly Anderson-Messec)

The two earliest species to bloom are also our two most common; the Florida flame azalea, Rhododendron austrinum, and the Piedmont azalea, Rhododendron canescens. Because native azaleas are genetically variable, when grown from seed the individual plants within the same species can differ in the shape, size, and colors of bloom. The Piedmonts usually begin blooming first, varying in shades from lightly blushed white to deep pink. The Florida flames follow shortly after in sunny yellows, deep golds, tangerines, and apricot shades.

Unlike their Asian cousins, which stay leafy and green year round, most of our native azaleas are deciduous. This quality makes for a much more impressive show when the leafless branches erupt in masses of color unhindered by distracting foliage. It is a truly breathtaking sight!

Although they are not an ideal choice for the types of hedges Asian azaleas are often used for, our native azaleas are wonderful additions to the landscape nonetheless. They can be used to create a natural privacy screen when mixed with native evergreen shrubs and small trees. I often find them growing in similar situations in the wild, and I find this natural look of mixed deciduous and evergreen native shrubs much more attractive than a formal, screen-like hedge of one non-native evergreen. Those types of plantings are about as appealing as a fence, and our wildlife would agree.

Native mixed plantings allow you to appreciate the progression of the seasons as you watch the individual plants flower and change. Most importantly, our native birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife depend on these plants to provide the food and shelter they desperately need as we continue to replace their natural habitat with barren lawns and non-native plants. Our native plants and wildlife have adapted to rely on each other to meet their specific needs, which non-native plants cannot provide.

Native azaleas are a prime example of this symbiotic relationship. The two species I have mentioned bloom early in spring, when few flowers are available. The fragrant, tubular blooms are perfectly timed to welcome home our hungry hummingbirds returning from their winter migration. In exchange for the nectar rich meal these flowers provide, the hummingbird pollinates the blooms, allowing the plant to produce seed.

These relationships are what make native plants like our wild azaleas not just special, but necessary. If we want to continue to enjoy wildlife like hummingbirds, then we must begin to see our yards as essential pieces of wildlife habitat. Find a spot in your yard for a native azalea or two, and aim to add more native plants every year.