Turnip News Master Gardeners

Prince William

September 2015

Editors: Rebecca Arvin-Colón Maria Stewart

News from the Education Committee 2

Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings - At a Glance 3

Prince William County Fair 4

MGs Visit Alpaca Habitat 5

Emerald Ash Borer 6-8

The First Flight 9-10

Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings 13-14

Fall Plant Sales 14

Get to Know a Critter 16

PUZZLER 17

Root Appreciation Day 15

Landscape for Life 15

Update: Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary, Apartment Edition

12

View from a MG’s Garden 11

Inside this issue: MG President’s Message Where has the year gone? Here it is September already. Pretty soon bed leaders in the Teaching Garden will begin to tuck in their flow-ers for the winter. No doubt Jean and Amye will soon set out a fall crop of various greens and such. If you haven’t had an opportunity to visit our Teaching Garden, drop by. The new compost area in honor of Ed Rishell is up and run-ning. The memorial service to honor Ed Rishell and Louise Black will be on October 10th at 2:00 p.m. at the Teaching Garden. Come join us. The Board of Directors will meet again on September 2nd at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Library Community Room. All members are entitled and encouraged to attend Board of Director meetings. Additionally, if you would like to serve on the Board of Directors for 2016 and 2017, please let me know what position interests you. We will elect a President Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and Member -at-Large. Several members have already expressed interest. If you are interested or just curious about the responsibilities of the vari-ous Board positions -- attend a Board meeting! I encourage all members to read the Bylaws. If you wish to make a change, whether an addition, deletion, or rewording, please let me know. I will ask the Board to form a Bylaws Committee at the Sep-tember meeting to incorporate all changes recommended. The draft

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MG President’s Message copy of the Bylaws will be emailed to each member for consideration. Then we will vote to approve the new Bylaws at the January meeting. My sincere thanks to Debbie Scott for reformatting how we account for funds received, funds budg-eted and funds dispersed. As a 501(c)(3) organization, we have significant accounting responsibili-ties. In any 501(c)(3) organization it’s all about “follow the money.” In this regard, Debbie has done a wonderful job! Thanks Debbie. For the next two months, the Board will be formulating our 2016 Budget. As a 501(c)(3), we must have a budget. The budget is subject to review when we file our application with the Virginia De-partment of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) in the spring requesting permission to seek donations actively and conduct fundraisers (as defined by the IRS). Once our VDACS applica-tion is approved, we will request relief for paying state income tax and collecting and paying state sales tax. The Board needs new ideas on how to reach out to the Prince William County community and as-sist in various programs such as, possibly, grants to schools and community organizations to create gardens or flower beds. As a 501(c)(3) organization, community outreach is expected. We have a list of ideas but new ideas are always welcome. It is my wish that, by the January meeting, the Board will have approved some new community projects and you will be able to sign up to help out. We have a great deal to accomplish in the remaining months.

Respectfully, Bill Willis, President, Master Gardeners of Prince William, Inc.

News from the Education Committee Jamie Nick

Here’s What’s Coming Up for the October Program:

Jennifer Graham and Jean Bennett on ORCHIDS!

Learn about varieties of orchids, light requirements, and where they like to be. Also, Jennifer will demonstrate re-potting an orchid.

Stay Tuned for Date, Time, and Place…!

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Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings - At a Glance

October SATURDAY 10

Saturday in the Garden, Work Day &

Memorial Brick Dedication

SATURDAY 24 Teaching Garden

Work Day

SATURDAY 3 Teaching Garden

Work Day

September

SATURDAY 12 Saturday in the

Garden, Work Day & Plant Sale

SATURDAY 5 Teaching Garden

Work Day

SATURDAY 26 Teaching Garden

Work Day

WEDNESDAY 2 MGPW Board of

Directors Meeting

WEDNESDAY 9 MG College Review

FRIDAY 11 Root Appreciation

Day

MONDAY 14 TGBEES Meeting / Landscape for Life

sessions begin

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Linda Ligon and Jackie Burriss - just two of the many Master Gardener Volunteers helping out at the Fair

Congratulations! 1st place Thomas Bolles, 2nd place Harriet Carter

Gisela Glodeck and her Blue Ribbon Pumpkin “Freaky Tom”

Congratulations!

Photo by Beverly Femino

other photos by Jason Alexander/Maria Stewart

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Master Gardeners Visit Alpaca Habitat by Harriet Carter

B onnie Nahas Fulford is the owner of a small herd of alpacas. She is currently feeding them grain and

other supplements. Her goal, though, is to have a grazing habitat in her backyard (she has a meadow in her front yard) so that the animals could feed on fresh grasses and plants. The project for our team of Master Gardener Volunteers, Linda Arvin, Brenda Hallam, Teresa Blecksmith, Sherrie Bishop and myself, involved identifying plants in Bonnie’s backyard meadow potentially poisonous to the alpacas. It was quite an extensive task for the Master Gardener Volunteer team to identify the plants on the ground, overhanging tree branches, as well as vines on the fence. We accomplished most of it within a couple of hours.

A lot of the plants were weeds we knew from turf projects, but there were many that were difficult to identify with certainty. Part of the difficulty was that the plants were at various stages of growth and only a few were in flower. The plants we could not identify were bagged and taken to the Extension Office for possible identification. The office experts, Paige Thacker, Nancy Berlin, Thomas Bolles and

Leslie Paulson were able to identify all but one. We compared all of our identified plants against a complete listing of plants poisonous to alpacas. Bonnie was then given a printed out list with color photos which made it much easier for her to check against what is actually growing on her grounds. There were some amazing finds. Plantains, for

example, are not poisonous when they are in the broad leaf form, but they are deadly in the narrow leaf form. Bonnie’s backyard meadow, with its current plant life, may have to be completely resown with grasses and plants that are palatable to alpacas -- no small task. However, renovation could be done in stages.

Bonnie Nahas Fulford preparing wool for

processing

left to right: Linda Arvin, Sherrie Bishop, Teresa Blecksmith, Brenda Hallam. front: Bonnie Nahas Fulford. With Harriet Carter, below.

The youngest and most curious photos by Harriet Carter

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Emerald Ash Borer by Abbie and Vincent Panettiere

S ome years ago, I can recall seeing odd pur-ple tent-like structures hanging from trees along Sudley Road across the road from

the Catharpin Post Office. I believe this was part of a 2012 program, “Spot the Purple Trap for EAB Awareness Week." The tents were traps for the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), a small invading beetle native to Eastern Rus-sia, Northern China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The traps were purple because the insects are said to prefer that color.

In their native range, the EAB population densi-ty is low enough that they are considered merely a pest on the ash trees. However, outside their native territory, they have become a serious pest, spreading through the United States and destroying all varieties of ash in this country.

The purple tents are something similar in intent to the traps that lure Japanese beetles: they were developed not specifically as killing traps, but an attempt to assess whether there are EABs present in the area and their estimated number. The tents are extremely sticky to trap any EABs and are armed with a pheromone (a pheromone is a chemical sexual lure secreted by animals, but particularly by insects to attract others of the same species).

The program became a necessity in the years fol-lowing the first discovery of the insect in North America, made in 2002. The beetle had been at-tacking ash trees in and around Windsor, Ontar-io and Southeastern Michigan. It is thought that the beetles first made their way to this country in pallets used for shipping and packing materi-als, or shipping containers. Due to the extent of damage confirmed in 2002, it is thought that they first arrived here in the early- to mid-1990's.

The federal government has placed various are-as in the East and Midwest under quarantine to try to stop or slow the advance of EAB to new

territories. Under quarantine, according to the Fairfax County, Virginia website, you are not allowed to move any hardwood firewood, ash nursery stock, ash green lumber, or any other ash material, living, dead, cut, or fallen, includ-ing logs, stumps, branches, and roots, as well as composted and uncomposted chips from any spe-cies of ash.

EAB insects are small, approximately .33 inches long, and brilliant metallic green as adults. EABs have four larval stages (instars) and, in the process of feeding, they create long serpen-tine galleries. They use the volatiles from ash leaves and what are called “sesquiterpenes,” (these are naturally occurring chemicals given off by the trees as a defense or a pheromone) to locate their host trees. When they emerge as adults from trees in the spring, they make a D-shaped opening in the tree’s bark. The adults will spend approximately one week feed-ing on the leaves in the ash tree’s canopy, but this itself does not do much harm to the tree. Males hover nearby, identifying females visually and dropping on to them to mate. Females may mate with several males in their six week life span in which they will lay forty to seventy eggs. If the females live longer, they may lay up to 200 eggs, which will take about two weeks to hatch. The eggs can be found between bark crevices, flakes, or cracks in the tree. When the larvae have hatched, they chew through the bark to the phloem, cambium, and xylem areas where they feed, and it is in this stage that the EABs do their harmful work.

An article from Purdue University Purdue Ex-tension covering the EAB in Indiana mentions that “ash trees are considered ring‑porous, which means that their vascular vessels are rel-atively large and concentrated directly under the bark. This characteristic makes ash trees espe-cially vulnerable to attack by EAB larvae, which restrict their feeding to tissue in the ash tree’s cambium layer. The vascular systems of dif-

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fuse‑porous trees, such as birch, are charac-ter-ized by vessels spread evenly throughout the sapwood.”

When the insects reach the fourth-instar stage, they will be around an inch in length. In fall, they excavate half-inch chambers into the outer bark or sapwood, fold themselves into a J-shape, and develop into pupae and then adults by the following spring.

The damage is done to the ash tree by the gal-leries that the larvae excavate, which become so extensive that nutrients and water can no longer flow to all parts of the tree. The tree is effectively gir-dled and dies within two to four years, as it is denied suste-nance.

EABs are strong fliers, but gen-erally stay within a half-mile area all their lives. Left to their own devices, the infestation would travel at about two miles per year, but because of the shipment of untreated ash prod-ucts, ash firewood, ash nursery stock, and other ash products, the spread of the beetle has rap-idly covered a great deal more territory.

When EABs attack a new territory, they are drawn first to stressed trees rather than healthy ones, but after a while, they will attack all ash varieties that are over an inch and a half in di-ameter. EAB kills young trees several years be-fore they reach the age where they begin making seed(ten years). An EAB attack will always prove fatal to ash, even healthy trees, in two to four years.

Since its introduction into North America, EAB has spread into 15 states (Illinois, Indiana, Io-wa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ten-nessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin) and two Canadian provinces (Ontario and Que-

bec), killing tens of millions of trees in the pro-cess.

Sadly, in New York, and presumably other ur-ban and suburban areas, ash were used to re-place elm trees when those were destroyed by Dutch elm disease. The loss of the popular and economically very valuable ash tree species is likely to be devastating economically. Further, the loss may well seriously affect the control of air pollution, local temperatures in the area as the tree canopy is altered, and adversely affect

stormwater runoff.

With the seriousness of the sit-uation well understood, efforts are underway on many fronts to find ways to stop or at least slow the destruction wrought by EABs. I have mentioned the sticky purple tents already. An-other attempt, by both United States and Canadian agencies, to ascertain how many beetles there may be in an area in-volves the use of native parasit-ic wasps, (Cerceris fumipennis). The normal diet of these para-sitic wasps includes beetles from the same family as the emerald ash beetle, and the wasps will use EAB for food if

they are present. The female wasps stun the beetles and bring them back to their in-ground burrows. The beetles are stored until the wasp’s eggs hatch, at which point the wasp larvae use the beetles as nourishment.

Volunteers working on this particular project have a tricky assignment: to catch the wasps on their way home with their beetle prey. They then ascertain if there are any EAB among the potential wasp larvae dinner and, if so, the agency in charge of the study may initiate quar-antine measures. This effort is called “biological surveillance” instead of “biological control” be-cause, unfortunately, the wasps don’t seem to affect the beetle population density.

EAB purple tent trap

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Biological control is being attempted on several fronts. Quite sensibly, scientists visited areas in Asia where EABs are native. Three species of parasites from China were approved for release by the USDA in 2007 and authorities in Canada in 2013, and another species was approved for release in 2015. Remembering what can happen when a species is introduced with the sincere belief that it will attack only the invader caus-ing the trouble, they have imported species which will attack EAB, but feel they’ve been careful in selecting parasites that don’t seem to cause harm except where intended.

To locate EAB, ash specimens may be girdled in the fall, so they may act as a trap tree. Egg-laying EAB females are attracted to the tree in spring, and in fall the tree is debarked to search for larvae. If their presence is confirmed, the ar-ea is then put under quarantine to try to keep the infestation as local as possible.

Michigan and other Great Lakes states, which have been particularly hard hit by EAB, are be-ginning to collect native ash tree seeds in an ef-fort to preserve biodiversity. The seeds will be stored at the National Seed Laboratory in Dry Branch, Georgia.

Insecticides are also in use, but generally only in urban locations with high-value trees. Current-ly, insecticides with active ingredients such as imidacloprid, emamectin ben-zoate, and dinote-furan are used since they are “systemic” (absorbed by the tree’s roots and be-come part of the tree) and will remain effective for up to three years, depending on the product used. The insecticides are either injected into the tree directly or absorbed as a soil drench. Some of the insecticides may only be applied by licensed applicators, and while initially the trees can handle the injections, after several applica-tions there is a toll on the trees’ health. And, for all that, EAB depredations can continue unabat-ed, even in the presence of these poisons. Insec-ticides are not considered effective in the treat-ment of forested areas infected with EAB.

There is much more that could be said about the EAB and the potential loss of an entire genus of trees in this country. Remembering the fate of the American chestnut and the elm trees that once seemed as if they would always be around in great numbers, gives urgency to those who are expending much effort to stop the destruc-tive slow march of Emerald Ash Borer. Emerald Ash Borer Information: http://goo.gl/SzYGpp Emerald Ash Borer; Virginia Information http://goo.gl/UkPgXt Fairfax County, Virginia Emerald Ash Borer in Fairfax County http://goo.gl/X0oSWu Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York Invasive Species Information Emerald Ash Borer; Facts and History https://goo.gl/3tYPvP Wikipedia Emerald ash borer http://goo.gl/62IezA Cornell University, College of Agriculture and Life Sci-ences; Biological Control Atanycolus cappaerti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) Ian Lane, Michigan State University https://goo.gl/dyMNlN Wikipedia Fraxinus http://goo.gl/bXeYO4 Purdue University, Purdue Extension Emerald Ash Borer in Indiana Identification and Biology - Ash http://goo.gl/Wc0Opm United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Ser-vice Northern Research Station Emerald Ash Borer April 3, 2015 http://goo.gl/YE9E6T United States Department of Agriculture Spot the Purple Trap for EAB Awareness Week May 20-26 Joelle Hayden, APHIS Public Affairs May 21, 2012 http://goo.gl/xTo2A4 The Town of Vienna Emerald Ash Borers http://goo.gl/7acgLf Fairfax County, Virginia Watch Your Ashes! Protecting Ash Trees from the Em-erald Ash Borer Threat http://goo.gl/83TgxH U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Emerald Ash Borer July 7, 2015

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Turnip News

The First Flight by Maryellen Farley

I love all birds, but if I had to choose my very favorite, it

would have to be the Eastern Bluebird. Several years ago, I purchased a decorative birdhouse from someone who made and sold them on a country road in Massachusetts. It was only $10.00, but worth its weight in gold. As soon as we hung it on a tree in our backyard, a male bluebird landed on top. It proved to be prime real estate. Shortly after,

his mate showed up and the contract was signed. The nest was built and life began. This year, tree swallows took over the decorative abode. The bluebirds were searching for a place to build their nest, but the tree swallows swooped and shooed them away consistently. In a panic, we ran out and purchased a bluebird box. Our yard is very small and there weren’t many choices on where to place it, so we put it on the edge of a flower bed. The tree swallows wanted to claim that house as well, but they lost their battle to house sparrows. That began my personal battle. I made it my mission to check the bluebird box and dismantle the sparrows’ nest every morning before I went to work. This occurred at least ten times. During this time I didn’t see the blue-

birds, so I assumed they built their nest else-where. My persistence paid off. The sparrows left and the bluebirds returned! Before we knew it, the female was busy transporting pieces of grass and getting ready to lay her eggs. Ironically, the day we attended “The Bird with the Sky on Its Back” presentation (July 18th) was the same day we saw the fledglings. We noticed the young birds were poking their beaks out of the house the evening before, so we thought they were getting ready for their first flight. We were right! Around 8:00 a.m. on July 18th, we saw the first fledgling make his way into the world. There is a Leyland Cypress within six feet of the bluebird house, but the fledgling went straight (instead of curving right into the tree) and landed on one of our patio chairs. The total distance was about ten feet. He hopped onto the patio, then onto a bistro table, and then clung to an umbrella. Mom was waiting in the Leyland Cypress. She called him and off he went. His brother tried to follow suit and headed for the patio as well, but Mom swooped down and guided him into the tree. There was a third fledgling that just wasn’t quite ready to leave the nest. It wasn’t crowded anymore, and he had the whole house to himself, so what was the hurry? Dad waited patiently on top of the house, keeping a careful lookout. At one point he went in to see what the problem

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was. We didn’t see the last fledgling make his flight, but the house was empty by that after-noon. We figured the whole family had moved on since we hadn’t seen any of them for about two weeks. Then one evening (August 3rd), we no-ticed a male and female bluebird perched on top of the bluebird box. The male kept a watch-ful eye, while the female bathed in a large

planter dish in the garden. One young bluebird joined her and then another! The youngsters splashed so much that Mom took off. We learned that a bluebird family stays together until the young can fend for themselves. Brian and Marci Swanson from the Virginia Bluebird Society were able to answer all of our questions at the presentation that morning, which made this experience even more memorable. Timing really is everything!

Check out Maryellen’s fun video on YouTube! Click above or here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUWKxWqqXkM&feature=youtu.be

photos by Maryellen Farley

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View from a Master Gardener’s Garden: Jamie Nick (photos by Jamie Nick)

right crocosmia

above hibiscus perennial

above, center, left dahlias

below coral honeysuckle

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Update: Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary, Apartment Edition

by Maria Stewart

D o you still think it’s too difficult to get your garden certified as an Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary? Well, you shouldn’t.

You may recall how, in the March 2015 Turnip News (http://goo.gl/yQmXrh), I described the series of events that left our third floor apartment balcony just two critters shy of the ten that the Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary program requires for certifica-tion. You may also recall how I had not even been trying for certification.

And yet, certification was right around the corner with visits from Carolina Chickadees and a Carolina Wren - critters nine and ten!

So, what started with a half crispy, half wilted lemon cucumber is now an Audubon at Home Wildlife Sanctuary - on an eighteen square foot, third floor apartment balcony.

basil - We got a couple of harvests for ourselves, but now it’s a “load-bearing basil” for a very industrious spider. It’s gone to flower and the buzzing critters, including the hummingbirds, have been enjoying it.

Eastern box turtle - ok, he wasn’t on the balcony, but he was in the front of my building. So close!

American goldfinches on zinnia

photos by Maria Stewart

mountain mint - A “must have” according to many Audubon at Home Ambas-sadors. It’s easy, native, and critters love it. I got mine courtesy of MG Maryellen Farley. I think it may need a bigger pot!

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Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings

2015 Teaching Garden Workdays Listed below are the Saturday Workdays in the Garden. In addition to Saturday, every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. – noon and Thursday from 6:30 p.m. – dusk are regular work times as well. This schedule will go on through mid-November. Please make note of the dates. We can always use more hands to make our work go quicker, so come out and join us when you can. We always have a good time!

Saturday Workdays September 5th, 12th, and 26th

October 3rd, 10th, and 24th November 7th

MGPW, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting: Wednesday, September 2nd, 5:30 p.m., in the Community Room at Central Library (8601 Mathis Ave Manassas VA 20110)

This will be a Board Meeting only, without a program following. All members are encouraged to attend.

Master Gardener College Review: Wednesday, September 9th, 6:30 p.m. in the McCoy Room at Sudley North Government Building (8033 Ashton Avenue, Suite 105, Manassas)

Master Gardeners who attended MG College will share what they learned at Virginia Tech. Participation is free, but registration is requested; please call the Horticultural Help Desk at 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org.

Saturday in the Garden: Fall Chores in the Garden, Fall Cover Crops in the Cooks Garden, and MGPW Plant Sale, Saturday, September 12th, 9:00 a.m. - noon at the Teaching Garden (9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow)

Fall Chores in the Garden – Join Master Gardener Volunteers as they prepare for fall and winter in the garden. Topics for discussion include clean up, plant division, soil preparation. Fall Cover Crops in the Cooks Garden – Cover crops protect soil from erosion and enhance soil productivity and health, yielding better vegetables. Cooks’ Garden Master Gardeners show you how. Participation is free, but registration is requested; please call the Horticultural Help Desk at 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org.

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MGPW Plant Sale Saturday, September 12th, 9:00 a.m. - noon at the Teaching Garden (9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow)

Please start looking at your gardens and think about what you could contribute to our sale. You can drop off your plants at the Teaching Garden in gallon size containers on Thursday, September 10th, 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. or Friday, September 11th, 5:30p.m. - 7:00 p.m. No invasive species please. If you are in doubt ask Leslie Paulson ljp6651@comcast.net. All proceeds to benefit future Master Gardeners of Prince William activities.

Also, if you have some free time and don’t mind a bit of garden labor, MG Jeannie Couch would like to dig up, divide, and pot up her large perennial garden to donate to the plant sale. If you can help, please contact Nancy Berlin, or email Jeannie Couch directly at photoart@verizon.net.

Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy: Where to buy native plants in Northern Virginia For a list of area fall plant sales and where to buy native plants, visit http://goo.gl/7kG5VU.

Fall Plant Sales

TGBEES Meeting: Monday, September 14th, 6:30 p.m. in the McCoy Room at Sudley North Government Building (8033 Ashton Avenue, Suite 105, Manassas) Everyone is welcome to attend to learn about what it takes to run the Teaching Garden. Please bring finger food to share and RSVP to the Horticultural Help Desk at 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org. If you have any questions, contact Leslie Paulson at ljp6651@concast.net. Saturday in the Garden: Living Soil, Saturday, October 10th, 9:00 a.m. - noon at the Teaching Garden (9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow)

Healthy soil is a web of life, retaining and cycling nutrients into the right forms at the right rates, building soil structure, suppressing disease-causing organisms, protecting plants, and decomposing toxic compounds. Learn about the necessary elements of a healthy soil web. Join the Cooks’ Garden team and learn seed saving tips. Participation is free, but registration is requested; please call the Horticultural Help Desk at 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org.

Save the date: Dedication of memorial bricks in honor of Master Gardener Volunteers Ed Rishell and Louise Black, Saturday, October 10th at 2:00 p.m. at the Teaching Garden (9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow) We will have refreshments following the dedication. Join us for the memorial and to see our Teaching Garden. RSVP to the Horticultural Help Desk at 703-792-7747 or email master_gardener@pwcgov.org. If you would like to help with the refreshments contact Leslie Paulson, ljp6651@comcast.net.

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Get to Know a Critter: Damselfly

Blue-ringed Dancer (Argia sedula)

Did you know? ♦ The blue-ringed dancer damselfly is active in Virginia from June through October.

♦ Blue-ringed dancers live near rivers, streams, lakes, and ditches with aquatic vegetation. They often perch on vegetation in the shade, unlike most other dancers.

♦ Blue-ringed dancers are beneficial because they voraciously eat small insects, especially gnats and mosquitoes.

♦ The number of damselfly species in your landscape directly reflects the health of the surrounding streams, ponds, and wetlands.

♦ To promote damselfly health, plant a wildflower garden to attract insect prey. Also, create a mini-wetland water feature.

Sources: Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, http://goo.gl/iROXDp Iowa State University, Dept. of Entomology, BugGuide.net, http://goo.gl/clIGZx

photos by Maria Stewart

female blue-ringed dancer on Virginia creeper

(Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and bird bath

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Last month’s answer:

Vinca

(Catharanthus roseus)

For more information on vinca see: Missouri Botanical Garden: http://goo.gl/7zlxkE Clemson Cooperative Extension: http://goo.gl/DANFQI

Do you know what this is?

See next month’s

Turnip News for the

answer!

PUZZLER