July 17, 1998
Crickets Likely This Year
Brace yourselves. It is beginning to look like another "good" year for crickets. Calls are already coming in with complaints about crickets chirping in the house. Oh my.
Like other accidental invaders, field crickets spend most of their life outdoors where they feed, grow, develop and reproduce. Only during a limited portion of their life cycle do they wander indoors by mistake and create an annoyance.
Daylilies
Daylilies are one of the most popular garden perennials. Over 32,000 varieties of daylilies are registered, and over 12,000 varieties are sold by commercial nurseries. The scientific name for daylily is Hemerocallis Hemerocallis means "beautiful for a day" in Greek. The name accurately describes the individual flowers and their one day bloom period.
Control of Yellow Nutsedge
The wet weather this spring and summer has produced a bumper crop of weeds in many lawns and gardens. One weed that has prospered is yellow nutsedge.
Violets
Several species of violet (Viola species) are native to Iowa. Violets usually grow in colonies and can be found in a wide variety of habitats ranging from dry, rocky prairies to moist woodlands.