Summer 2005
Quarterly Newsletter
Earthly Elements
How colors affect our bodies & moods.
Red: the color of passion, anger and love. Red makes your heart beat faster, raises your blood pressure and stimulates and appetite Men seem to prefer orange-reds while women like blue-reds.
Orange: Warm and powerful, orange also stimulates the appetite, engenders optimism and lessens irritability.
Yellow: the most easily seen color, it promotes clear thinking, cheerfulness and creativity. Pale yellow is harmonious, but very bright yellow can be fatiguing.
Green: Nature's primary color, it lowers blood pressure, relieves pain and stress, promotes feelings of harmony and well being, and symbolizes growth, renewal, health and fertility.
Blue: Cool and calming, blue is the color of the sky and water and embodies faith, peace and loyalty.
Purple: A regal color denoting, leadership and wealth, it is highly attractive to butterflies and very young children (Barney is purple for a very good reason).
In last month's issue we covered the issue of grubs and the damage they do. This month we'll focus on the Japanese beetle, one of the adult forms of these annual grubs. I chose this topic because some of you (and me) will be battling with this pest soon!
IDENTIFICATION
Metallic green bodies with white tufts of hair and bronze outer wings make the 1/2"long Japanese beetles hard to miss. Even if you don't see this insect, their damage is very noticeable and in some cases devastating. Japanese beetles skeletonize leaves, eating the tissue between the veins, on a wide range of ornamental plants. Roses, birch, plum, apricot, cherry, apple, crabapple and peach trees are among their favorite snacks. Damaged leaves look lacy, then wilt and die. Japanese beetles do their damage in the Northeast and Midwest, from as far west as Iowa and as far south as Alabama.
LIFE CYCLE
Adult beetles are most common in spring and early summer as they feed. During this time, the females burrow into the ground where they lay eggs. After the eggs hatch, the larvae do a different kind of damage. The 1" long, white grubs often live under turfgrass, feeding on the roots. A heavy infestation can kill sections of lawn, which you can pull back like carpet to see the grubs underneath. Moles, raccoons and birds like to feed on the grubs. The larvae over-winter several inches underground. They pupate in the spring and emerge as adults.
CONTROL
You can buy traps at most garden centers, but they're not the best way to deal with this pest. They often attract more beetles than they actually catch, making the problem worse. Insecticides, including imidacloprid and carbaryl, can control the larvae in lawns. But there are more environmentally friendly ways to dispose of the grubs. You can apply insect-eating nematodes Steinernema gloseri and Heterorhabdifis bacteriaphoral to turfgrass for control of Japanese beetles. Milky spore, applied anytime the ground isn't frozen, controls the larvae, too. To get rid of the adults, keep plants healthy. Stressed plants are more susceptible to Japanese beetles and other pests. If you only have a few beetles, handpick them off plants and drown them in a pail of soapy water.
There's nothing more refreshing than a cold slice of watermelon on a hot July or August afternoon. Admittedly, it's the water in the watermelon, or more precisely, its juice that clinches the fruit's status as the quintessential summer treat. What better way to serve it than frozen on a stick?
Prep Time: About 15 minutes, plus at least 1 3/4 to 2 hours to freeze.
Notes: If using cookie cutters, choose simple shapes so you can make neat cuts through watermelon and remove fruit without breaking the shapes. Also consider the depth of cutter and slice your watermelon accordingly.
Makes: About 6 pops
What You Need:
1 or 2 pieces of seedless watermelon (pink, yellow or a mix of both).
About 6 wood craft sticks
Here's How:
1. Cut rind from watermelon, (discard rind). Cut fruit in cubes or shapes using cookie cutter.
2. Insert wood craft stick through watermelon pieces you have cut out. Cover a cookie sheet with plastic wrap, and lay pops 1/2" to 1" apart.
3. Place cookie sheet in freezer and freeze pops for 1 3/4 to 2 hours. ENJOY!
3 cups seeded, peeled, and chopped watermelon
1/2 cup finely chopped sweet green pepper
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp. finely chopped green onion
1-2 Tbsp. finely chopped, seeded jalapeno peppers
Salt (optional)
Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. Season to taste with salt if desired, and serve with chicken, fish, or pork. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours.
Makes 3 cups (6 servings).
2 cups seeded, peeled, and cubed watermelon
1/2 cup white grape juice
1/3 cup lemon or lime juice
1 Tbsp. honey or corn syrup
In blender, combine all ingredients. Cover and blend until smooth. Serve over ice.
Makes 2 to 3 servings.
"When spider webs in the air do fly, the weather will soon be very dry". Is this just an old wives tale or is it true? Spider webs are very sensitive to the amount of moisture in the air. When relative humidity is highest, the threads of the web become thick and break free. Take note...especially in July, if you see them wafting in the air like silk, a moist period is ending and a dry one is just beginning. Spiders, whether friend or foe, give most people the creeps. How much do you really know about these furry-legged creatures? Here's a little info run down:
The Vitals...
Number of eyes: 8Number of legs: 8
Number of joints in a spider's leg: 6
Combined length of thread in a spider's web: 67-196 feet
Number of years spiders have lived on the earth: 350 million
Number of species of spiders: 37,000
Life span of a male spider: 4-5 months
Life span of a female spider: 1-2 years
Some facts that maybe you didn't you know...
ALL spiders have silk glands.
When the silk hits the air, it turns from liquid into a hard substance.
A single 0.1 millimeter silk thread can endure more than 80 grams (almost 3 ounces) of stress before it breaks.
Male spiders are smaller than their female counterparts.
If massed together, some species of spiders start to eat each other.
A non-poisonous spider bite is not as dangerous as a mosquito bite.
Spiders cannot eat solid food. They inject their prey with a venom that turns tissues into liquid, then they suck the victims up.
The total weight of insects eaten by spiders every year is greater than the total weight of the world's human population.
Earthenjoy FlowerScaping L.L.C. ©2005
