So...in Wyoming...the wind blows. I know it is a unique experience given to us by Mother Nature. Oy. Please turn off the fans!
Anyhoozle, I have a wonderful client who has a beautiful home and yard. However, some of the aspen trees have been plagued by borers. This occurred mostly because of drought years weakening the trees and left them susceptible to insect invasion.
We had winds March 20th or so that clocked at 86 miles an hour at Alcova Lake. Hence...Casper Mountain has to be worse. This cllient lives below Casper Mountain. One aspen tree fell over and barely missed the house. The other, larger one, cracked. Luckily it did not fall because it would have fallen into the house.
As you can see, the aspens are medium sized and are very sick from the invasion at this time. One of the trees had broken in half and fallen. The other needed to be taken down. Glen, the chainsaw master, was on it like stink on skunk. I hung from a rope to bring the gravity away from the house when the tree fell. What a ride!
Lori and I had treated these trees with bug treatment for about 3 years with top quality tree treatment. The borers were not affected and the tree was really showing the invasion. Let's take you to the BUG ZONE. Prepare to get the heebie jeebies. They are very oogly and gross. Yuck. I'm getting the creeps just writing about this.
Death to the nasty larvae. I smashed it like 100 times because it needed to be dead dead. Take that! I think he was screaming..."me eyes, me eyes...me belly...me head! I want my mommy!" Then...I'm pretty sure he didn't scream any more.
On a positive note, last season, Lori and I planted Midnight helleborus. Helleborus are called the Christmas Rose and they are one of my favorites. I love the meaty flowers in cream/green and now the new varieties are also fun. The Midnight variety does not have the meaty flowers like the original, but the color was spectacular.
Now..the originals (below) speak to me..."I AM FLOWER! I HAVE MEAT!"
The Midnight version (dark magenta above) are a softer, delicate, smaller variety and speak..."I am a delicate rose. I am a vegetarian."
Ok. So that was a strange comparison. Ah, well. Gardeners talk in the garden. To ourselves. To the plants...however, especially to God!
Happy Gardening! I hope the bugs stay away from your plants and trees and reside at the ugly homes...and then may the birds eat them! BWAHAHHHAA!