Shine a little LED on the subject of Stink Bugs

If you think you’re safe, beware. Researchers predict that if one out of 10 homes had stink bugs last year, nine in 10 homes could have them this season. According to Dr. Tracy Leskey, a research entomologist with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, adult stink bugs are moving inside and looking for places to spend the winter.

"Now is the time to fight stink bugs," says Rod Schneidmiller, president of Sterling International, developer of the RESCUE! Stink Bug Traps. "Whether you use a homemade trap or one of ours, do something this fall to break the cycle and reduce their numbers."

By Halloween, most stink bugs will have moved inside to hibernate. Experts say a good indoor stink bug trap with an LED light works best to attract stink bugs indoors.

To prevent stink bugs from taking over your home this winter, follow these tips from the pros:

* Seal up your castle. The first line of defense is to close your windows and doors, and seal up any openings where the bugs can enter. They can flatten out and slip through the cracks to hide in your house for winter.

* Create a barrier outdoors. Outdoors stink bugs are attracted to scent. Indoors they move to light. Place traps on porches, posts and trees around your home. New traps on the market catch both young and adult stink bugs with a pheromone attractant that lures them from up to 30 feet away.

* Check traps frequently. Make certain your traps are catching stink bugs. If not, move them to another spot. "Be vigilant," says Doug Oster, author of Grow Organic. "You have to out-smart them."

* Pick them off. When you see them on your plants, deck or curtains, pick them off with a tissue, drop in a cup of soapy water and flush down the toilet. Do not release outside. "These aren’t lady bugs," says Oster. "A dead stink bug is the only good stink bug."

* Seek and destroy them indoors. Once they migrate indoors, the bugs congregate in warm dark areas. Indoors they are attracted to light, not scent, so place your traps in attics, living areas and basements where the bugs gather to hibernate through the winter. "Light is what works indoors," Oster says. RESCUE! just introduced a new Stink Bug Light - an attachable LED proven to lure the bugs into the trap. The light easily snaps onto the Stink Bug Trap and plugs into either a wall outlet or battery pack.

* Don’t vacuum. If you vacuum, you’ll scare them and they will emit a foul odor that will linger in your vacuum cleaner and home. If you do, change and dispose the bag immediately.

wedding flowers whether indoor or outdoor

Your wedding is one of the most very important occasions in your life. Whatever the scale and type of the wedding, well chosen flowers can transform the location of the event, whether indoor or outdoor, and make it into a special occasion for you. Your wedding bouquet should compliment your wedding dress. Set yourself a budget and stick to it. Any florist who’s worth their weight should be able to work within your budget.

You can have the wedding of your dreams and you can have it at any location imaginable – when you carefully plan and select your wedding flowers and lighting.
The charm and fragrance of flowers in combination with the usage of natural light, candle light and lighting fixtures sets or enhances your wedding theme. If you’ve always planned to be married in a romantic paradise, set the scene with soft lighting and warm or pastel shades of pink, lilac, creamy white, gold-tones in the lights, flowers, and ribbons.
Flowers have always been part of the love and romance of weddings, right back to European’s brides and grooms, who wore garlands of flowers to symbolize new life and fertility. Later brides wore light orange blossoms in their hair to represent purity and fruitfulness.
Flowers set the mood and tone for your entire wedding and choosing them has never been easier. That’s because the newest trends in wedding flowers are not about matchmaking – the bridal bouquet, boutonnieres, corsages and centerpieces no longer have to be identical. The latest floral styles are all about color, boldness and individual design. Wedding flowers usually follow fashion trends and right now individuality is in, while conventionality is out. This means that the bridesmaids’ bouquets do not have to match the bride’s and each bridesmaid can potentially have a unique bouquet. Colorful blossoms, as opposed to conventional white, are also in style especially plums and lavenders. This makes it easy for brides making their own centerpieces because anything goes. Be creative! Create a different floral assortment for each table.
Beautiful wedding flowers will enhance your special day and will remain in your memories and pictures forever. Your wedding day will be one of the most important days of your life.

Plant grafted Roses The Easy Way

Last October, when grafted roses planted, he explained that the graft must be four inches below ground level. He noted how, with roots extending a foot or more above the bud union, finished digging holes deep enough.

Never again! Yesterday I heard Ginenthal Lee, who owns Der Rosenmeister nursery in Ithaca, to remember the basics. You may remember from a visit to Rosenmeister Der Lee has specialized in cold-hardy roses. He accepted that it must plant the seed of the seven 53 inches below ground level, but stressed that there is no need to plant the roots down.

Not down, but Sideways

Instead, you can plant shrubs at an angle with the graft to the proper fishing depth and the roots down, but more horizontal than vertical. (Those of you who are planting tomato seedlings in a corner so that the trunk is buried up to the first set of leaves immediately know what I mean.) This means that you dig a large hole, instead of a very deep hole, which most people find it easier to do. It can also mean moving temporarily to other plants and replant them in the course of the buried roots is increased if your beds, which are crowded as mine.

Buy a shrub unbalanced

If you use this method of planting grafted roses, and when you go shopping for his part, does not want the branches of a bush evenly on all sides. You want a balance of those in which all the growth seems to be growing in one direction. When planting the rose in hand, you can enjoy this lame positioning for growth, so all points up. Another advantage of the plantation is the side that more roots in the layer will be the most fertile and spacious. Lee also said that eventually increased the grafted root grafting and the pattern is going to die, which gives, in essence, an own root rose after three to four years.

Read Lee Der Rosenmeister Blog

I learned much of his speech, and you can learn from him, too. Lee started blogging and his posts are very informative. He said he has a completely redesigned Web site in the pipeline, so stay tuned!

This is no Ordinary Snowdrops

       And look at the snow, and then there are snowdrops. I am for the most part, satisfied with the Galanthus nivalis (pictured below), I had many years ago, which said a lot in my division, and their efforts to spread on their own. Other differences are obsessed with stems of flowers, Spat, petals and internal and external. We call them galanthophiles. Hitch Lyman, owner of the nursery Temple, is one of the most galanthophiles in the United States.

He has more than 400,100 varieties of snowdrops growing in his garden, which is open to the public on Saturday, 2 April 10 at 16:00, in the framework Garden Conservancy Open Day ($ 5 entry fee). I'm going to be there, and I hope you can join me.

Updated Conservation Garden: The Garden of host Hitch Lyman in Trumansburg, New York has asked us to send a special message in the snow expected to be covering his garden on Saturday. The garden is open to visitors, but if you find that you can not do this, visitors are welcome to come on Saturday, April 9, as in other places, at the same time, 10:00 to 16:00 Visit our website for more details about the open house.

Listen To Beautiful Words: The Forester

Listen To Beautiful Words: The Forester

Scared Lotus Flower and Bud

 Lotus

Nelumbo Cultivar

(Nee-LUM-bo)

This cherry red lotus flower was spotted earlier this summer. I liked being able to sprout and bloom. Shot 80-200mm / 2.8 lens. The lens is very good, even if it was bought "used". I actually came in good condition, and shows that the old and new lenses for digital cameras do not mix well.

From what I can say from 80 to 200 were produced in the early 1990s. It is equipped with an old Nikon Zoom push-pull, which is a bit strange, since I really used to the system to modern two rings on the lenses other than I have. It's really a minor thing and easy to use once you get the hang of it. One thing about the lens, there is little difficulty in dealing with its physical size. It is big and heavy, but the hand holding it for a good shot is not bad, but I do not want to do all day. People often have a double take when you're in public, and it is against my policy to photograph incognito.