One easy way to tell the difference between a bay laurel and a Carolina cherry laurel is to crush the leaves and smell the herbal aroma. Bay laurel leaves have a pungent aroma. When you crush the leaves of Carolina cherry laurel, they have an aroma of maraschino cherries rather than herbal.
Every hiker who has heard of it dreams of walking the Bright Angel Trail, the famous footpath that snakes from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon all the way to the Colorado River on the canyon floor, with spectacular scenery almost every step of the way. If you’re going to hike it, May is one of the best months to do so, with average daily highs at 72 degrees on the rim and in the 80s about halfway down, at Indian Garden.
A fruit tree should be solid in the soil and not wiggle after it is planted. Staking helps but doesn’t replace proper planting.
If you deploy pheromone traps in early May, the principal insect pest caught in the trap will be the peach twig borer. The peach twig borer causes wormy peach, nectarine and apricot.
Aphids are a big problem on new growth this time of year. Curling leaves is a spring indicator that aphids are present.
It is not uncommon for early apricots to set fruit first, followed shortly thereafter by leaf and shoot growth.
Much like people, snakes are eager to explore desert as weather warms.
Standard-sized apple trees may grow to 35 or 40 feet in height. You might be able to keep a standard-sized tree under 20 feet tall through pruning, but the standard-sized apple tree is just too vigorous for pruning to short heights.
A disease called fire blight might pop up in some pear and apple trees beginning around May. It can be common several weeks after spring rains, particularly if trees were flowering. It can lead to tree death if not controlled when it’s first seen.
Absent a “shelter-in-place” order, taking walks, going on hikes and riding bikes remain permissible, and there was plenty of evidence this week of people doing just those things.
Delay pruning grapes as long as possible in the spring to reduce disease possibilities and avoid any late spring frost damage after pruning. Immediately after pruning grapes, consider applying a fungicide to the vines if there were problems with grape bunch diseases last year.
My experience with Mexican petunia is that it grows like a weed, and I consider it the broadleaf version of Bermuda grass, aka devil grass. If it’s contained in an area and prevented from spreading into the landscape, I think it will be OK.
March is a good time for this trip, before the heat intensifies and while there’s a chance to see wildflowers.
A reformed drug addict received a hug and a kiss from President Donald Trump during a recent ceremony in Las Vegas. She proceeded to thank a police officer for arresting her.
Henderson has plenty of in-city walking choices, including a network of paved paths branching within and outside the driving loop through Seven Hills neighborhoods.
