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Weekly Gardening Tips
April 12, 2008
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By Mitzi Davis
Colorado State University Extension
Master Gardener, Larimer County
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- You can remove any old wasp nests from last summer that you find around your yard. They are empty and the wasps will not use them again. A few queen wasps have over-wintered in protected spots and will be looking for places to start new nests. Keep them from nesting on or near your house and patio and you will have fewer problems with wasps later this summer.
- Try some Colorado native fruit trees and shrubs in your yard for you and the birds, like serviceberries, chokecherries, Western sand cherries, clove currents and New Mexico Elderberry. (Some are native to the border area between New Mexico and Colorado.) The fruit of some may be too sour to eat fresh, but they make wonderful jellies and syrups.
- Dormant oil spray can still be applied to trees and shrubs that have not leafed out. The oil will help control scale on aspen, leaf rolling aphids on ash and viburnum, and pear slugs on hawthorn. Dormant oil will also help control many of the insects that overwinter on fruit trees.
- Arbor Day is the 3rd Friday in April in Colorado-April 18 this year. The first Arbor Day was in 1872 and was started by J. Sterling Morton, a member of the Nebraska state board of agriculture. More than a million trees were planted on that first Arbor Day. In 1970, President Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day. Trees take in carbon dioxide and provide us with oxygen. Plant a tree, or two or three!
- Boxelder bugs, elm leaf beetles, cluster flies and Asian lady beetles may have taken up residence in your home for the winter. As the daylight lengthens, they come out of their winter diapause and start moving around. They are a nuisance but they don't cause any damage while spending the winter inside. They don't feed or produce eggs while they are in their "suspended state".
For more information, contact your local
Colorado State University Extension office.
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Updated Friday, April 11, 2008.
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