Anchorage Daily News

You have to love another week of high 60- and 70-degree weather even if it does throw the gardening off a bit. Some things, like mock oranges, are blooming late (unless they were watered often). Others, delphiniums in our yard, are blooming early. Spinach is bolting due to the heat. Tomatoes are thriving. Whatever comes, you have to love the weather.

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Gardening calendar (7/16/09)

Raspberries: Water and watch for ripe ones.

Rhubarb: Water. Pick and discard flowers. Twist off stalks; don’t cut them.

Trees: Water

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Ah, but there are some pests showing up. Most disturbing to me is the early appearance of flowering Linaria vulgaris. Sometimes called "butter and eggs," the yellow, snapdragon-like flowers of this plant have appeared. I had thought there would be time for one more warning to get these plants before they flowered and they got you. Linaria are easy to spot, even when not in flower, and can be cut down with a weed eater outside of the gardens and easily pulled by hand when in them.

Please know that these are not the cute, pretty little plants they seem to be when one first stumbles upon them. Oh, they are cute, with that clean, yellow color and the alluring brush of orange. But these are real pests and while once upon a time it might have been cool to have a small stand of them, with what we now know, there is no excuse for even one in the yard today.

Ah, but now handling Linaria gets a little more difficult due to flowers. You can't trust a proven invasive that vies for "Public Enemy Number One" for a moment and you should make absolutely sure to remove the flower heads from your yard after weeding so they won't continue to mature and set seed. Take a garbage bag with you when weeding.

Next, "Jacob's ladder," Polemonium repens, and "giant bachelor button," Centaurea montana, are two, blue, weedy perennials found in many southcentral gardens. They are "pass over the fence" plants given away because they spread so fast. Both are just finishing their blooms and both are big time, garden weeds. They are easily pulled (the whole plants) before they go to seed. Do not wait too long or you will be very, very sorry. And whatever you do, don't pass them along to an unsuspecting neighbor.

How about those yellow jackets. Populations seem high this year. While most view them as real pests, they are merely taking advantage of the good weather and the abundance of food such as aphids and other insects. Yellow jackets are working members of the soil food web and if possible should be left alone to do their thing.

If you must get rid of a yellow jacket nest, try trapping first. You may also reduce populations by using an attractant to distract the flight path for food forays away from your area of activity. There are all sorts of traps and attractants available at local nurseries. In my opinion, those hit-em-in-the-nest, poison, insecticidal sprays are full of pretty horrible stuff and should be avoided.

Another perceived pest appearing on our stage this week is clover, a plant that likes dry, sunny weather. Heck, it likes any weather. I know it is disturbing to many to see white clover flowers in a green lawn.

We were brainwashed into thinking clover a weed. It wasn't always so. Rather clover became a weed in lawns when it was discovered that dandelion herbicides also killed clover. It had to become a weed if the dandelion eradicators were to be sold.

Things have come full circle. Today there is almost universal recognition among professional lawn care professionals that a healthy lawn has clover in it and that the clover helps provide nitrogen to the lawn. So get with it.

Learn to love clover again. In addition to improving the soil, the plants stay green when the rest of the lawn goes brown.

If you want to keep the clover in check, using a thatching rake is the safest method.

Thatching to remove clover is hard work, best done when the soil is dry, so now is a perfect time, if you must. Mowing up clover flowers will also help slow down spreading. Bag them and use the clippings in your compost pile. Or, you can shave clover to the ground with a weed eater.

Finally, there is one instance where the heat itself has become a pest. Tomatoes are all the rage and those of us who have outdoor greenhouses are the lucky ones. This year, however, take care to make sure the temperature in yours does not into the 90s.

This is when plants really shut down because it is too hot. If your exhaust system does not do the trick, you need to move in a supplemental fan to help move the air.

By the way, I will take the pests over cool weather, any day!

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at teamingwithmicrobes.com or by calling 274-5297 during "The Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR AM-700.

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