Archive for the Clippings department

Invasive Japanese stiltgrass found in Washtenaw County

October 2, 2017 • Leave a Comment

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently announced that Japanese stiltgrass, an invasive plant originating in Asia, recently has been positively identified on private property in Scio Township, near Ann Arbor in Washtenaw County. This identification, confirmed by the University of Michigan Herbarium, is the first detection of this species in Michigan.

Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) has been on Michigan’s invasive species watch list since 2015 due to the grass’s presence in nearby states, including Indiana, Illinois and Ohio. The species is believed to have arrived in the U.S. from Asia in the early 20th century, when it was used as a packing material for fine china. It is now widely distributed along the East Coast and in southern states.

Why be concerned?
“This annual grass is considered highly invasive, taking hold in areas of disturbed soil along banks, roadways and woods,” said Greg Norwood, invasive species coordinator for the DNR’s Wildlife Division. “Seeds can be transported by water or on animals, and seeds can remain viable in the soil for 3 to 5 years. Because deer don’t feed on Japanese stiltgrass, it often takes over in areas where deer browse on native plants and leave open patches of soil.”

What is being done?
The DNR is collaborating with The Stewardship Network, a nonprofit conservation group based in Ann Arbor, and other partners to identify the extent of the infestation. To date, small “satellite” populations have been located on the original property and a nearby site. The primary infestation was treated with herbicide, and plant material was burned. The small patches of grass at the satellite locations were removed by hand and disposed of.

How can you help?
The DNR is asking anyone to be on the lookout for Japanese stiltgrass and to report the location and photos of any suspected findings to Greg Norwood at norwoodg@michigan.gov.
Japanese stiltgrass looks like some native grasses, so it may not appear out of the ordinary to the general observer. Here is what to look for:
• A thin, bamboo-like grass with jointed stems and well-spaced leaves.
• Smooth green leaves 2 to 3 inches long and one-half inch wide, tapering to points at both ends, often with an off-center silver stripe or mid-rib.
• 1- to 3-foot-high beds of grass, with some stems running across the ground and others shooting upright.
• Roots, both at the base and stem joints, that are weakly attached to the soil and easy to pull up.
• One to three slender, green flower spikes at the stem tips, appearing in August or September.

Look-alike species
There are a few common plants in Michigan that easily may be mistaken for Japanese stiltgrass.
More information about invasive species, including identification information for Japanese stiltgrass, can be found at www.michigan.gov/invasivespecies.

Michigan government, nonprofits and corporations collaborate to fight Oak Wilt

September 17, 2017 • Leave a Comment

Oak Wilt is lethal to many oak species, including red oaks, pin oaks and black oaks. (Photo courtesy: michiganoakwilt.org)

The Oak Wilt Coalition is a new partnership between private, nonprofit and governmental organizations to help increase awareness about the serious threat of oak wilt disease in Michigan. Oak wilt is a fungal disease that is spreading among trees in Michigan and many other states. It has been confirmed in much of the Lower Peninsula and in the western portion of the Upper Peninsula, as shown in this 2016 oak wilt map.

This disease is lethal to many oak species, including red oaks, pin oaks and black oaks. It can be transmitted by insects moving to fresh wounds on trees, including those caused by pruning. The fungus also can spread through root systems, causing death of nearby oak trees. “Oak wilt initially causes wilting of leaves, ultimately killing otherwise healthy trees within a matter of weeks,” said DNR forest health specialist Roger Mech. “The effects can be dramatic and costly when mature trees die and are removed, especially in highly maintained landscapes, parks and recreation areas.” Mech said that prevention and management are possible with disease awareness, proper identification and timely response.

Led by the Arboriculture Society of Michigan, the partnership also includes representatives from the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Michigan State University, ReLeaf Michigan, and various electric utility companies and tree-care companies.

To find out more, visit: www.michiganoakwilt.org

Scientists inquire: Will the eclipse make crops and animals flip out?

August 18, 2017 • Leave a Comment

NPR:

On Aug. 21, a 70-mile-wide ribbon from Oregon to South Carolina called the “path of totality” will experience a total solar eclipse. Large swaths of farmland in the Great Plains and Midwest will be plunged into darkness for 2 1/2 minutes, and temperatures will drop about 10 degrees in the middle of the day.

But as millions of people look up at the sky, many Midwest scientists will turn their eyes and cameras toward the plants and animals on the ground. And they’re not sure what will happen.

“It’s never really been studied systematically,” says Angela Speck, director of astronomy at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Speck says different parts of the Earth experience a total eclipse about once a year, and that makes tracking changes in animal and plant behavior challenging.

Read the rest of the story here…

Cranbrook Gardens to offer free admission

July 25, 2017 • 1 Comment

For the third year, admission is free to Cranbrook Gardens through October 31, 2017, courtesy of its sponsors. The gardens are open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm for self-guided visits.

Spanning 40 acres around historic Cranbrook House, the former home of Cranbrook’s founders, George Gough and Ellen Scripps Booth, Cranbrook Gardens is known for its formal gardens featuring fountains, statuary, lakes, streams and extensive plantings. Highlights include the Sunken Garden, Herb Garden, Bog Garden, Native Plant/Wildflower Garden, Reflecting Pool Garden, and Sundial Garden.

The Sunken Garden, a formal garden surrounded by fieldstone walls, was originally established by the Booths as a vegetable garden. They used the crop to feed the people living and working on their estate a century ago. The Booths lowered the garden to extend the growing season. In later years, the Booths moved the vegetable garden to another location and transformed the original space into a flower garden. Today, Cranbrook House & Gardens Auxiliary’s captivating layouts for the Sunken Garden attract thousands of visitors each year.

Since there is no cost to enter the grounds, guests are encouraged to visit the Sunken Garden and all the gardens often to discover firsthand how they evolve from spring through fall. Although the gardens are free, tours of Cranbrook House and special events require paid admission, and donations are always welcome. All proceeds help support the preservation of Cranbrook House & Gardens, a National Historic Landmark. For more info, click here.

Getting Rid of Weeds On Organic Farms Is More Difficult Than You Think

July 14, 2017 • Leave a Comment

NPR:

This spring has been strange in Oregon’s Lane County.

“It rained every day. I’m exaggerating, but only by two days,” says farmer Jason Hunton.

When Mother Nature rears her ugly head, Hunton watches his fields. He farms both organic and conventional land in Junction City, Ore.

“We’re struggling. We’ve got a couple of [organic] fields that have some real thistle problems. I want to get some tarps and solarize it — cover it up and see if we can get that to cook itself in some of the thicker areas,” Hunton says.

Several fields down the road, a tine weeder runs through one of Hunton’s organic wheat crops. It’s like a giant comb, scraping up weeds and bits of wheat along with it.

This is the third time this year that Hunton has tine-weeded this field. It’s an all-day job. In his conventional wheat fields, he can spray once and be done with it.

Read the rest of the story…

World-renowned gardener Adrian Bloom to speak on Thursday, July 13

July 12, 2017 • Leave a Comment

Widely-acclaimed British gardener Adrian Bloom will speak on “Designing Drama in the Year-Round Garden: Making the Most of Trees, Shrubs, Conifers, Perennials, Grasses, Ferns and Bulbs.” Adrian is the former president of the legendary Blooms of Bressingham nursery in England, which was founded in 1926 and has introduced over 200 perennial cultivars since then. He is the developer of Britain’s superb Foggy Bottom garden, television personality, author and world traveler in the service of horticulture. In addition to his illustrated presentation, he will autograph your copy(ies) of his books and pose for photos.

Thursday, July 13, 2017: 6:30-8:30 pm. At the Dearborn Inn, Alexandria Ballroom, 20301 Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, MI 48124. Walk-in registrations are welcome ($45) and include admission, book signing, and lecture.

New study sheds light on how pesticides impact bees

July 5, 2017 • Leave a Comment

NPR:

In the global debate over neonicotinoid pesticides, the company that makes most of them has relied on one primary argument to defend its product: The evidence that these chemicals, commonly called “neonics,” are harmful to bees has been gathered in artificial conditions, force-feeding bees in the laboratory, rather than in the real world of farm fields. That company, Bayer, states on its website that “no adverse effects to bee colonies were ever observed in field studies at field-realistic exposure conditions.”

Bayer will have a harder time making that argument after today. (Although it still has another argument in its quiver. We’ll get to that later.)

This week, the prestigious journal Science reveals results from the biggest field study ever conducted of bees and neonics, which are usually coated on seeds, like corn and soybean seeds, before planting. Scientists monitored honeybees and two types of wild bees at 33 sites across Europe, in the United Kingdom, Germany and Hungary. At each site, the bees were placed near large fields of canola. Some of the fields contained canola grown from seeds that were treated with neonicotinoid pesticides, along with a standard fungicide. Other fields were planted with canola treated only with fungicides.

Read the rest of the story…

China plans to build a $100 million garden in Washington D.C.

May 31, 2017 • Leave a Comment

Washington Post:

This summer, a construction team is expected to begin transforming a 12-acre field at the U.S. National Arboretum into one of the most ambitious Chinese gardens ever built in the West.

By the time Chinese artisans finish their work some 30 months later, visitors will encounter a garden containing all the elements of a classical Chinese landscape: enticing moongate entrances, swooping and soaring roof lines, grand pavilions with carved wooden screens and groves of golden bamboo. The grounds will boast two dozen handcrafted pavilions, temples and other ornate structures around a large central lake.

Its backers undoubtedly hope that the National China Garden will become a Washington landmark and achieve for Sino-U.S. relations what the gift of the Tidal Basin’s cherry trees has done for Japanese-American links for more than a century. The Chinese government is so anxious to have the garden that it has agreed to foot the entire bill, which approaches $100 million.

Read the rest of the story…

Scientists say there are over 60,000 tree species in the world

May 3, 2017 • Leave a Comment

NPR:

Wondering how many kinds of trees there are? There’s now a database that can answer that.

Scientists from the U.K.-based Botanic Gardens Conservation International say they have compiled the first-ever comprehensive list of all known tree species, totaling 60,065 different kinds.

The database includes information about where each species is found geographically. More than half of those species are only found in one country, the researchers wrote in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry. And many of them are threatened with extinction.

Read the full story here…

Detroit school horticulture program receives national award

April 18, 2017 • 2 Comments

The Charles Drew Transition Center has become a national model for methodology and programs developed to educate special education students in the areas of Horticulture Science.

The Charles R. Drew Horticulture Program has been named the recipient of a 2017 Magna Award, sponsored by the National School Board Association. This award recognizes the Drew Horticulture Program as one of five innovative programs nationwide recognized for outstanding content, student involvement, and impact on school culture and local community.

For more than 20 years, the Magna Awards has been a national recognition program that honors innovative programs that advance student learning. Drew’s Horticulture Program was chosen for this highly prestigious award from among more than 2,650 applicants submitted from across the country.

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