Baker's heartbeat

These three Linden trees are packed full of Japanese beetles; they are the favorite "food" of the beetles. The bad news: There is very little a local gardener can safely do about controlling Japanese Beetles, called  "JBs" by three experts I consulted. The good news: The beetles have basically exited a yard in Ames, Iowa, and might be gone from Scott County, Iowa, as early as Aug. 15-16. Experts consulted were the state's entomologist, Dr. Donald Lewis, of Iowa State University, Ames, and his colleague, Dr. Mark Shour, also an entomology professor and with the university's Pesticide and Education Safety Program, part of ISU Extension & Outreach. Richard Jauron, a noted horticulturist and ISU professor of horticulture, also weighed in. According to Lewis, contacted while he was traveling, the JBs were spotty in his yard in Ames, and have already disappeared. Typically the JB season starts in late June in Iowa and ends in mid-August, he added, al...

Okay, I've had it: The worst moment in the war against Japanese beetles was when I found two of them in my hair. That came after aggressively cleaning out landscape areas along our driveway. Or, possibly, when I was knocking the beetles out of our tall sunflowers. Gross! After washing the bugs out and killing them, I'm almost out of patience in this "war." Lately, the beetles have increased their eating range; having started with the hibiscus tree and shrub on the Baker property, they now have attacked the new red Canna plant, the first-time-planted sunflowers, and the day lilies, especially yellow ones. I've taken to stomping on the beetles in the driveway, thereby staving off back pain. Earlier methods were to repeatedly bend over to capture each beetle one-by-one, or to sweep the beetles into a plastic bag, close it tightly and bake it in the hot summer sun. (It appears I'm acting like a dictator when killing off the hated bugs: Think heartless Idi...

Top: My work gloves, a container of hot water with dish soap in it, and one of the hibiscus bushes I'm trying to protect from Japanese beetles. Above: Three buckets of water, with fruit cocktail in them, to help manage the Japanese beetles in the huge American Linden trees that line the driveway. There's a war going on in our front yard. Three American Linden trees line our concrete driveway. Many months of the year, they are majestic, gorgeous trees with a background in the U.S. that dates to the 1750s. American Lindens, alas, are also the preferred food of Japanese beetles. Introduced in the United States in 1916, the beetles  arrived in my yard about 17 years ago. I chose the linden trees on the advice of a local garden expert, never dreaming they would have an enemy like this beetle. Unfortunately the trees are now about 25-30 feet tall, so most chemical prevention applications are not feasible. Plus, I prefer to address this issue in a way that does not affect ...