How to Scare Off Thrips?
I Was Laidback Before I Was a Gardener. My patience was already limited before I started growing things, and moreContinue Reading
Category: Harmful insects
Birch Catkin Bug: Stinky Bugs Falling From Trees
Question My birch trees are infested with bugs. They hang in a cluster at the end of the branches. WhileContinue Reading
The Wrong Caterpillar on My Milkweeds
What to do when you plan for a monarch caterpillar and a stranger shows up in its place? Question IContinue Reading
Crane Fly: Giant Mosquito or Plant Pest?
Crane fly, European crane fly, Tipula paludosa, mosquito hawk, skeeter-eater, flying daddy longlegs or something like “yuck, that’s really ugly.”Continue Reading
Bugs: Garden Friends or Foes?
Garden soil isn’t sterile … and we wouldn’t want it to be sterile. Rather, it needs to teem with life.Continue Reading
Conifer Needles Against Slugs
Question My hostas are attacked by slugs and I have tried many things to control them with variable amounts ofContinue Reading
Earwigs: Friend or Foe?
Ennemies in North America, But Friends in Europe Here’s the answer I gave to a reader of my newspaper gardenContinue Reading
Wireworms: Small Pest, Major Annoyance!
They’re found in our gardens and lawns, but they are most annoying when they show up in our vegetable beds.Continue Reading
The Azalea Sawfly: My Exception to The Rule
I share many horticultural ideologies with the Laidback Gardener. One of them is to avoid putting any effort into plantsContinue Reading
Leafrollers: Surprising, But Not Really That Harmful
By Larry Hodgson Do you have plants in your garden—perennials, shrubs, trees, etc.—which present a curious habit? Some of theContinue Reading