November 25, 2013 by Born To Organize

Magnolia vs Scale: This Tree has Game

Tulip Magnolia
March, 2012 BC (Before Scale)

All is not lost!

Last week I wrote about my struggling tulip Magnolia. It’s infested with scale, a nasty soft scale insect. It’s been a problem for two seasons. You can continue reading, or pop over to this page to view graphic photos.

Did you go look? It’s not pretty, is it?

I met with a certified arborist today to discuss the tree’s plight. The arborist nodded and said ‘yes it’s a problem,’ and agreed that gardens with tulip magnolias frequently harbor scale. He went on to say the problem is systemic and that most treatments don’t work.

He did, however suggest a fairly new product that has recently shown promise. Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed. It’s applied at the roots so no spraying. Further, it’s supposed to have minimal impact on beneficial insects, always a concern. I’m going to give it a try. He said improvement wouldn’t happen ‘over night’ but that with time, it may help. He noted the green shoots on the tree and the lack of mold as two good signs. Apparently all my scraping and washing helped.

Two hours worth of scale removal.

The arborist also approved of the banding my husband banded did last summer. It’s an ant barrier, a sticky substance that the ants won’t cross. Since ants protect the scale in order to harvest the secreted honeydew, it’s another step toward protecting the tree.

Hope, renewed.

In other news…

Special thanks to Betsy of What’s Green With Betsy!?! and Pauline of The Contented Crafter for including me in there list of recommended bloggers. I’ll write more about this later in the week.

Liebster Award: Discover New Blogs
The Versatile Blogger Award

January 7, 2013 by Born To Organize

Magnolia Scale: It’s Not For Wimps

My house is super clean which can only mean one thing. I’m procrastinating.

The decorations are down and the house is back in order. The sun is shining. I’m all out of excuses. It’s time to tackle the Magnolia Scale. Blech!!!

Adult Scale (Red)

Last summer we discovered a severe scale infestation on our Tulip Magnolia. It was everywhere! I removed numerous branches, perhaps close to a third, since the infestation was so bad. We ordered beneficial lacewing eggs, hoping they would finish off the rest.

Now that the tree is dormant, it’s easy to see what remains. Though not nearly as bad as last year, dozens of red scales (the adult female) along with the immature male and female nymphs, cling to the young branches.

Scale Removal

Today, with my bucket and gloves in hand, I spent an hour scraping off scale. They’re easy to see (bright red) against the trunk, but I had to stand on a step stool to reach all of them. After tossing them into a bucket, I went back with a warm, wet rag and wiped off the nymphs.

The overwintering nymphs are all over the tree! There is no way I could get all of them, but I sure gave it a try.

Scale Nymphs

After giving the tree one last look, I sealed the scale in a plastic bag for disposable, and soaked the bucket, rag and gloves in hot, soapy water.

Scale in a Bag

I’ll check on the tree again tomorrow, and if the weather warms up, I might take a hose to the underside of the branches to remove some more.

Here’s what I’ve learned:

When purchasing a young Magnolia tree, check the inner branches first for infestation. Apparently many of the trees have scale before you bring them home.
Prune judiciously. Magnolias, especially mature ones, don’t handle heavy pruning.
Time your pruning appropriately. I’ve read the best time to prune is late winter, early fall, after flowering and before new buds set. Given those parameters, you really need to stay vigilant.

Resources:

Magnolia Scale Fact Sheet
Insect Diagnostic Lab Magnolia Scale
Magnolia lilliiflora also known as a tulip magnolia

January 5, 2013 by Born To Organize

A Little of This and That

Guess what?

I was out on the deck taking pictures when a bright yellow flower caught me eye. There aren’t any yellow flowers growing this time of year, so it really took me by surprise. Then I realized little visitors stopped by the fairy garden. What a nice surprise.

If you are reading this post and you know who the fairies are, please be sure to extend my thanks. It was such a treat to find those flowers. I spotted a tiny mum tucked in as well and a few greens. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!!!

Flower Surprise

Pumpkin Countdown

Last summer we grew several pumpkins. Four of them were over 40 pounds. My husband carved one, but they were really thick and not well-suited for ‘Jacks. We lined the wall of our garden pathway with the remaining pumpkins, and they’ve weathered the months beautifully. Twice in recent weeks, someone came to the door and asked if they could take one for cooking. We happily obliged, with a warning to please lift carefully. We now have one large pumpkin sitting on the wall, with a smaller, autographed one nearby. That one is just now starting to soften and will probably be headed to the compost bin in another week. We’ll be down to one ‘little’ pumpkin, sitting on a wall. 🙂

Two ‘little’ pumpkins, sitting on a wall

Avoiding the Scale

I know what you’re thinking. It’s January and I can’t hide from the scale forever. Time to put away the treats and face the music. All true.

I’m avoiding the scale that remains on the now-dormant Magnolia. Honestly, it creeps me out. We had quite the infestation last summer. We did a bit of research and got down to business. I ordered beneficial insect larvae. While waiting for them to arrive, I heavily pruned the tree. The inner crown was far worse, so I removed as many of those branches as I could. Left unchecked, scale can kill a tree.

Magnolia infested with scale

Now that the Magnolia is dormant, it’s easy to see what remains. I need to scrape the scale into a bucket, before it takes hold again.

To think I thought putting away the chocolate was hard.

December 15, 2012 by Born To Organize

Seeing Red: Seeds, Buds and Blooms

There is no shortage of red this time of year. Nothing shouts Christmas like a rich, vibrant unadorned red. My favorite shades of crimson come straight from the garden.

The Magnolia seed pods opened in the past few weeks revealing brilliant red seeds. They’re smooth and shiny and perfectly formed. I saw a crow perched in the Magnolia tree earlier this week. They usually prefer the much taller, denser trees in the neighborhood. I often see them feeding on the ground, usually helping themselves to worms in the grass. Now that I know they’re omnivores it makes sense. I hope I get a chance to take a picture of the shiny black birds with a bright red seed in their beak.

Magnolia Seed Pod

The miniature cyclamen continue to thrive in the fairy garden. Unlike me, they love the cold weather. Don’t they look happy?

Miniature Red Cyclamen, thriving in the cooler temps

The viburnum shrubs had a rough year. Thrips took hold, infesting the lower third of all the plants lining our front deck. We bought lacewing eggs to help combat the problem. I heavily pruned the damaged leaves as well. My son spotted a praying mantis on the window just above the plants last week. It’s good to have reinforcements.

Viburnum tinus: Tiny buds

The Abutilon are a modest red. Their heads our bowed, requiring one to look up into the skirt-like bloom to get the full effect of their beauty. Our neighborhood hummingbirds are big fans. It’s fun to see their long beaks disappear into the bent flower.

Abutilon: Today’s bud, tomorrow’s bloom

Abutilon opens up

When it’s too cold or wet or dark to play in the garden, I’ve been keeping my hands busy making this wreath. I bought a steel form at a craft store, but everything else is up-cycled. I used a simple Larks Head knot to attach four layers of paper and plastic. The outer layer uses strips of green plastic bags that come wrapped around our newspaper. The second row includes clear dry-cleaning bags, filled in with old bits of tissue paper. The tissue paper is on its third life: first as gift wrap, then protection for Christmas decorations and now part of the wreath. You may recognize the bow. It’s a recycled See’s Candy wrapper. It was so relaxing working on the wreath, that I’m a little sorry it’s done.

Recycled Wreath

Recycled Wreath Closeup

Are you seeing red this time of year?

July 2, 2012 by Born To Organize

Having Fun with the Magnoliaceae

Taking a Page From Queen Elizabeth II’s Book

I like to get silly from time to time, and what better place to do that than my garden. A couple of years ago, I put a Magnolia ‘tepal’ on my noise and had my son snap a couple of pictures. When I started Gardening Nirvana I picked that photo for my Gravatar. The photo embodied my love of gardening, the beauty of the fuchsias behind me and the silliness of wearing a flowering appendage on my nose. These were qualities I also wanted to embody in my blog. Unfortunately, that photo also travels with my organizing blog. I was recently referred by a client whose friend saw the photo and voiced alarm that something was seriously wrong with my nose. I got quite the chuckle out of that, but have since replaced it with a more professional photo.

Today I learned a few things about Magnolias from a Wikipedia entry, excerpted below. My English teachers would be proud to see me correctly using my new terminology in a sentence. If you need me, I’ll be dancing on the lawn, casting tepals to the wind.

Magnolia Branch

Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol.

Magnolia is an ancient genus. Having evolved before bees appeared, the flowers developed to encourage pollination by beetles. To avoid damage from pollinating beetles, the carpels of Magnolia flowers are extremely tough. Fossilized specimens of Magnolia acuminata have been found dating to 20 million years ago, and of plants identifiably belonging to the Magnoliaceae dating to 95 million years ago. Another primitive aspect of Magnolias is their lack of distinct sepals or petals: Magnolias possess undifferentiated flower parts for which the term “tepals” was coined. – Wikipedia