What's going on in the garden this week? Here is a snapshot of observations and questions coming into the Extension office.

Out in the Garden

• Rot, rot, rot. With all this rain landscapes and gardens have been suffering from saturated root zones. Here's a comparison of beebalm in the same planting area, only one is located where we've seen several days of standing water.
• Coneflowers and beebalm are the main event at the McDonough County Extension office.
• Newly planted Cascade hops are suffering from saturated roots, despite being planted in mounds. Leaf rollers seem to be enjoying these plants as well.
• Imported cabbage worm finally showed up. Kale pictured has been treated with a bt product.

Homeowner Questions - Late June thru early July

• Plant ID – White ash https://www.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/iowa_trees/trees/white_ash.html
• Transplanting iris https://web.extension.illinois.edu/cfiv/homeowners/000722.html
• When to plant strawberries http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/strawberries-for-the-home-garden/
• Dead and dying trees – turned out to be pesticide misuse (Read your labels!)
• Japanese beetles – sparse in some areas, overwhelming in others. http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/article.php?id=708
• Herbicide drift onto orchard https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/id/id_184_w.pdf
• Ground squirrel invasion http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/directory_show.cfm?species=groundsquirrel
• Oak apple gall ID http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/ent/notes/O&T/trees/note05/note05.html
• Potential verticillium wilt (sent sample to plant clinic for diagnosis) or root rot
• Grasshoppers in vegetable garden http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05536.html
• Fire blight on ornamental pears and apples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6F6WWYSTZ0