I hope you found Sharon Kuhn's' article last week about the Master Gardeners interesting. For those of you who might be interested in becoming a Master Gardener that article was for you!

I have started my 11^th year being in this program. This is also my 11^th year writing these articles. My how time flies when we are having fun—right? Anyway—most of you know how much I have enjoyed learning what I have about Mother Nature's plants. One thing about the Master Gardener program is that it is a continuing education. Actually that is one of the reasons why we all like it so well. So please consider joining us in this very special program.

I know some of you made it to the Idea Garden for the first time. I was there watering some annuals and other newly planted shrubs one Saturday morning and got to visit with some "first-time" visitors. For those of you who haven't made it to the Idea Garden, this is still a great time to go. Everything looks beautiful.

Now if we can just take care of some of the pesky critters. Next to weeds, insects are our worst pest. Since we are now getting into the "pest" season I thought I'd go over some of the more common ones. Hopefully this will help you in determining what you might have and how to control it. JAPANESE BEETLES: In some areas they definitely have arrived!! I noticed some on my porcelain vine earlier this past week; other than that it seems to be a quiet year for our area. You know these beetles tunnel into the soil to lay their eggs, which will hatch into white grubs. These grubs eat turf roots and cause turf die-back into fall.

Japanese beetles feed as adults, typically being present for about six weeks. They feed on the upper leaf surface, eating through the epidermis and mesophyll, leaving the lower surface (epidermis) intact. This lower surface is initially light-colored, but soon dries and turns brown.

Japanese beetles will feed on more than 100 plants, with favorites including smartweed, willow, linden, rose, buckeye, birch, crabapple, cherry, hazelnut, currant, grape, and raspberry. Traps are available that will attract male beetles to a pheromone and female beetles to a floral scent. Research has shown that these will attract beetles from a considerable distance outside the typical residential landscape, but many of these attracted beetles will not be caught in the trap. This results in more beetle damage in areas that have the traps than in areas that do not. So, careful consideration should be used as you make your decision on using traps.

Adult Japanese beetles are difficult to control. Carbyl (sold as Sevin) sprayed on foliage will provide protection for about a week. Synthetic pyrethroids, such as bifenthrin (Talstar), cyfluthrin (Tempo), lambda-cyhalothrin (Scimitar), and permthrin (Astro), will provide control for ten days to two weeks. Azadirachtin is marketed to home-owners as a Japanese beetle repellant. However, casual tests have not shown dramatic effects.

Hand picking the beetles every couple days is effective. When disturbed, the beetles fold their legs and drop to the ground. Hold a jar or can containing rubbing alcohol or water with dishwashing detergent below the foliage; the beetles will drop into the container and be killed. Although this method is too labor intensive for commercial situations, home gardeners may find it useful.

BAGWORMS: Bagworms hatch over a period of about two weeks. Newly hatched bagworms climb to the top of the tree or shrub and hang on a strand of silk. These strands break in the wind, and the bagworm blows through the air. This ballooning is the main way that bagworms find new hosts because the adult female moth is wingless. She stays in her bag on the host tree while filling her body with over-wintering eggs.

This larval ballooning activity may cause sprayed trees and shrubs to be re-infested from other areas. The combination of the ballooning plus the extended egg-hatching period is the basis of the suggestion that one should wait for about two weeks after they first hatch before treating for bagworms. Otherwise, more than one insecticide application will probably be needed. Young bagworms feed on the leaf epidermis and underlying mesophyll, causing whitish areas on the leaves that later dry and turn brown. Older bagworms eat through the leaves, causing skeletonization and defoliation.

Many insecticides are effective against young, small bagworms. Once the bagworms get at least 1/2 inch long, many insecticides provide little control. According to Phil Nixon of the University of Illinois, Bacillus thuringiensis var.kurstaki (Dipel, Thuricide), trichlornfon (Dylox), and cyfluthrin (Tempo) are effective against older as well as younger bagworms. Good luck with taking care of these "two little pests".

GARDEN QUESTIONS FOR CENTRAL ILLINOIS

Q) I was told that the "Stella d'Oro day lilies will bloom all summer if they are deadheaded. So, I have been removing the spent flowers faithfully. But lately I have been seeing what seem to be big green seedpods developing. What am I doing wrong? Do I need to literally cut off the spent blooms with a little stem? And when a stem seems finished, should it be cut back? A) This may not be the place to say "Don't believe everything you read," but these day lilies, like most perennials that are supposed to be constant re-bloomers are more accurately described as frequent re-bloomers. They will indeed make flowers over a long season, but usually in waves, called flushes, rather than all the time. Deadheading does help encourage more flowers by preventing the development of seeds, but only if you also consistently remove the baby fruits (seedpods) while they are small. Look for them right below the flowers at the top of the small stems that join the flowers to the larger stalk. The plant will look better if you cut stalks to the ground after they have finished blooming.

Q) Some of my perennials such as, bleeding heart and columbine go dormant in late summer and vanish. Should I continue watering the area where they're planted? A) Most perennials do need some moisture even while they're dormant, but whether you have to supply it by watering will depend on the quality of your soil and the regularity of the rain. Sandy soils dry out more quickly than clay ones. All soils dry faster when it's warm and windy than when it's cool and still. So before hauling out the hose, dig down a bit and check. Although moist is good and dry is not, dormant plants don't need as much water as plants that have leaves and if they get too much they'll rot.