Japanese beetles in the roses

Adult Japanese beetles are one quarter to one half inch long with copper colored wing covers and a shiny metallic green head. Between the green head and tiny tufts of white hair along their side you’ll recognize them easily as they happily munch on your roses. While they generally don’t eat dogwood, forsythia, holly, lilac, evergreens and Hosta, they’ll eat darn near everything else. These beetles feed on flowers and fruits making a skeleton of the leaves by eating the green parts and leaving the veins. Adults are most active from 9 a. m. – 3 p. m. on warm summer days. These voracious pests prefer plants in direct sun, so shady areas are usually less damaged. The bacterial spore, sold as ‘Doom’ or ‘Grub Attack’ is generally used to control these pests. Using a hormone lure in your yard simply attracts more beetles to your yard. Put the lure somewhere else a hundred yards away encouraging the beetles to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, reducing the beetles in your yard will not reduce their attacks in succeeding years. These beetles are great fliers and can travel upwards of ten miles from where they hatched. Handpicking is also effective on your prized plants – drop the beetles into a bucket of soapy water to kill them. There is some data that suggests hand picking is as effective as spraying noxious chemicals and you know you have killed the beetle when it drowns in your soapy bucket. One trick is to hold the bucket of soapy water under the plant and then shake the plant. Beetles will fall off the plant right into the bucket and you’ll get more beetles if you do this in the early morning before they start feeding and flying. Several birds (grackles, cardinals, meadowlarks) feed on the adult beetles so encourage birds in your yard. If you decide to use a lure, place it at least 100 feet away from your garden. Lures attract beetles and if you place one in your garden, you’ll have all the neighbors beetles visiting as well. Find a neighbor who doesn’t garden to host the lures and traps.

History of pomegranates punica granatum

Because of the many seeds found in pomegranate fruits, they were regarded as a symbol of fertility by the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The Greek writer, Homer, wrote about pomegranates growing at Syracuse, on the island of Sicily. The Bible of the Hebrews records many references to the pomegranate, and the image of the fruit was used extensively in molding and stone sculptures found in Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem, Israel. Pomegranates, ‘Punica granatum,’ are native shrubs and trees found growing throughout much of the Middle East, and much of Europe. The pomegranates appear to be the dominant landscape trees growing along roadsides of Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and many parts of Turkey. The pomegranate trees appeared in Spain around 800AD by the Moors. Granada, Spain, on the coast of the Mediterranean, got its name from the Latin name of the pomegranate, ‘Punica granatum.’ The French named the new explosive weapon, hand grenade, after the Latinized ‘Punica granatum,’ pomegranate, because the impact from the explosion of the weapon scattered the numerous small pieces of metal like the many seeds of the pomegranate fruit. Cultivated extensively in Spain, pomegranates moved with the missionaries into Mexico, California, and Arizona in the 16th century. In America pomegranate trees were introduced into California by Spanish missionaries in the mid 1700’s. Pomegranate fruits are ruby-red fruits about 2 to 5 inches in diameter. They resemble small apples, and derive their name from the French word, ‘Pome,’ meaning apple. Fruits have numerous seeds are each surrounded by a pink to purplish-red, juicy pulp which is the edible portion. The pulp is somewhat puckery to the taste. Pomegranates, ‘Punica granatum,’ are dense, bushy shrubs 6 to 12 feet tall with thorny, slender branches that may be trained into small trees. Orange-red flowers appear on new growth in the spring and summer and are bell-shaped and vase-shaped. The vase-shaped flowers are normally sterile, so they will not develop into fruit. The fruit contains numerous seeds surrounded by sweet, pink, juicy, tasty pulp covered with leathery-brown to red, bitter skin, which is easily peeled. Pomegranate juice stains can be difficult to remove from clothing. This juice was used by the ancients as an ink or dye, because of its persistence in staining permanently. The thick skin surrounding the pomegranate is high in tannins, and the ancients dried the skins and made leather-like products; the thick skin gives the fruit a long shelf life, lasting up to two months when cooled. When trained as a tree, pomegranates grow toward a bushy habit with many suckers arising from the root and crown area. Tree-type plants can be produced by allowing only one trunk to develop. Additionally suckers can be removed frequently around the main trunk. Pomegranate trees pollinate themselves. Severe fruit drop during the plant's juvenile period (2-3 years) is not uncommon. Fruit drop is increased by practices favoring leafy growth such as over-fertilization and over watering. Avoid putting young plants under stressful conditions. Mature trees set and hold fruit better than younger trees. Mature pomegranate trees develop a thick bark, which is cold hardy to temperatures tested in Georgia and have withstood the zero degrees Fahrenheit experienced in January of 1984. Younger shrubs and trees of pomegranate have thin bark that do not show a high survival rate in lower temperatures, but the plant may be regenerated from the roots in the spring. Light annual pruning of established trees encourages the development of good quality fruit. Excessive or late applications of fertilizer tends to delay fruit maturity and will reduce color and quality. The commercial orchard production of pomegranates is mostly concentrated in California, and the fruit begins to appear in Eastern markets in mid-October, just in time for the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Like picking wild scuppernongs from a childhood vineyard, this is an experience that children always remember--the fun and the fulfillment of the happy days during childhood preserved in the memories of growing up. A century ago every farmer had a pomegranate plant in his yard that he had grown from a seed. Some of these plants developed into bushes and some grew into trees. The fruit is strange looking in appearance and when opened with a knife appears even stranger inside looking like hundreds of juicy red, individual pulpy fruits, each with a removable seed Pomegranate juice is one of nature’s most powerful antioxidants. Pom Wonderful Pomegranate juice has more naturally occurring antioxidant power than any other drink, more than red wine, green tea, blueberry juice and cranberry juice. Antioxidants help your body guard against free radicals; molecules that can cause premature aging, heart disease Alzheimer’s, even cancer. Drink a glass today! Researchers have shown that people who drink 2 oz, of pomegranate juice each day for one week increased their body antioxidant activity by 9% in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Another study (Nov. 2003) showed that pomegranate extract will fight skin cancer at an American Association for Cancer Research conference. The pomegranate harvest in 2006 is expected to be the largest ever, because of the hype and excitement generated by the news of the spectacular health improvement, that can be expected by drinking only 2oz. of pomegranate juice each day, according to the Pomegranate Council, based in San Francisco, California. Additional health benefits offered by the pomegranate fruit results from the minerals: Calcium, Iron, Potassium, Phosphorus, and the Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, and niacin.

6 Styling tips for your fresh cut flowers

So your going to bring your grocery store or florist bought flowers home, now what! I have seen many people just plunk them in a vase of water and that’s it. Sometimes that works but here are some simple tips to make you look like you’re a pro at it. 1) In a clean vase, take your greens first, snip the ends off to the size you want and then start criss crossing the stems into the vase so that you have stems all around inside the vase. There are two reasons for this. One is because you now have a base for the flower arrangement and two; a criss cross of stems makes it easier for flower placement. 2) If you are making a small, low arrangement, slide in the flowers in a criss cross so that the stems are all around the inside of the vase. You should now have a vase with a ring of flowers on the out side and nothing but stems showing in the middle. (The more stems you have in the vase, the easier it will be to have flowers stay put!) The rows of flowers are going to be higher each time you get them in until you have a nice rounded arrangement. 3) If you are making a tall arrangement, then use a tall slim vase. Your flowers will hold up better and it will look well proportioned. Great flowers to use are gladiolas, blue delphinium, lilies, snapdragons etc. Sometimes you can get tall tulips and that looks fantastic too. 4) A design mistake I have often seen is placing the flowers in a vase perfectly even. The reason this does not work is because it looks unnatural. Have a look at any garden and you will see some of the blooms are sticking out, some are tucked in; some are almost hidden but still contribute to the overall look. Mimic nature and you won’t go wrong! Don’t be afraid to tuck some of those flowers in a bit. 5) A good rule of thumb is to use odd numbers of flowers. What I mean by that is to use 3 roses together or 5. Even numbers are not as effective. If you use 5 roses for example, Place 3 together (touching but at slightly different lengths) near the bottom center of the vase and then two more higher up. 6) The next best advice I can give you if you are really new at floral design, is to collect pictures of floral arrangements you like and with the tips I’ve stated above, practice while looking at the pictures. Before long, you’ll be looking like a pro!