Female, left, and male bagrada bugs. The pests have been taking hold in California since 2008. (Photos courtesy UC IPM) What’s eating your cabbage and broccoli seedlings? According to several Sacramento accounts, it may...
Spider mites love hot, dry conditions. Ash and fallen leaves cling to spider mite webs covering a camellia. (Photos: Debbie Arrington) Some of the biggest and smallest pests to attack our gardens are enjoying...
Look hard: Ants are on the leaves, carrying honeydew down to their nest. (Photo: Debbie Arrington) Chrysanthemum aphids one of 5,000 species One day, my mums were fine, growing happily and rapidly. The next...
About Face, a very tall grandiflora, was a 2005 All-America Rose Selection. (Photos: Debbie Arrington) The Daybreaker rose, a floribunda, loves the heat. The foliage is shiny and clean, too. Summer is rose season...
These dahlias are a small part of an intensely planted community garden plot. (Photos: Kathy Morrison) Oh, yeah, then there’s weeding … and bugs At the community garden where I’ve worked a plot for 15...
The harlequin bug eats and eats and eats. Heavy infestations will kill plants. (Photos courtesy UC Integrated Pest Management) This stink bug cousin loves many crops One day, the dino kale looked fine. The...
This California Dreamin’ rose shows effects of botrytis. The fungus attacks blooms or buds moistened by dew, fog or sprinklers. (Photos: Debbie Arrington) Our warm autumn weather prompted many roses to push out fresh...
The brown garden snail ( Cornu aspersum) is a voracious garden pest. (Photos courtesy UC IPM) What’s making those holes? Whether or not you see their telltale tracks, don’t count out these usual suspects....
Leaf-footed bug attacks a tomatillo in Midtown. (Photo: Debbie Arrington) Leaf-footed bugs on rosebud. Besides spider mites, one other pest apparently loves recent hot and smoky weather: Leaf-footed bugs. (They’re pretty crazy about tomatoes,...