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| Country Views: Recycle flowers and seeds and block beetles (Fall 2007) |
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DEAD GORGEOUS
Read this if you want an excuse to put off
cleaning out your flower beds of dead
plants. Laurie Kirsch waits for a good
hard frost, and then collects dried seed
heads, dead foliage, and a few pine boughs for
winter outdoor "flower" arrangements. "We go
for a walk around the garden and flower beds,"
notes Kirsch, a farm owner and avid gardener
from Harmony, Pa., "and bundle up whatever
looks interesting - cone flowers, sedum blossoms,
raspberry canes. A detour into the woods
or ditch can provide other good items."
Adds texture.
Kirsch pushes the stems into
her planters that once held summer annuals.
"The arrangements provide some color and texture
all winter long," she states. "You may even
attract a bird or two to the seed heads."
TRICK AND TREAT
Here's a different way to recycle those
messy squash and pumpkin seeds.
Feed them to the birds. "Spread the
seeds out and let them air dry," advises
David Bonter, with Cornell University's
Lab of Ornithology. "Then run them through a
food processor. This makes an easier meal for
smaller birds." Some birds relish these seeds
more than black-oil sunflower seeds.
BEETLE INVASION
If you have experienced a home invasion by
Asian lady beetles, you may find it hard to
believe these are beneficial insects.
Multicolored
Asian lady beetles are effective
predators that eat aphids, scale insects, and
other harmful plant pests," states Ted Cottrell,
researcher with the Southeastern Fruit and
Tree Nut Research Laboratory in Bryon, Ga.
"Some were introduced as biological pest control
for trees, shrubs, and agricultural crops.
More came in accidentally through ports."
Unfortunately when they are done eating
the bad insects in the fall, they look for good
spots to overwinter. Besides natural cracks
and crevices outdoors, they find cracks and
crevices in and around buildings, particularly
light-colored buildings near trees.
Don't eat wood.
The good news, says Cottrell,
is that the beetles are not structure-damaging
pests. They won't hurt your house. But
they can be annoying to the occupants. Insecticide
sprays inside your home are of limited
value, since each warm winter or spring day
may wake up a new batch of beetles. Your best
bet is to stop beetles before they enter your
home by caulking siding or foundation cracks,
or with the use of an exterior chemical application.
Contact your local Extension agent or
pest-control company for advice.
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