Virginia Green Grow Beyond Blog

What Are Moles?

Moles are burrowing mammals that often inhabit residential lawns. They are especially common around wooded lots and natural areas of vegetation. Their tunneling habits destroy the root systems from your grass, potentially causing extensive and expensive damage. However, moles are also known to be natural aerators. These animals are insectivores, with earthworms being their main food source.

Nobody likes to pull weeds. While some weeds will inevitably germinate and need to be sprayed or pulled, a few simple things can be done to prevent these issues. 

What are these small green worms in my trees? 

The small green worms you find in your trees are called cankerworms or inchworms. Cankerworms overwinter as eggs in the top of shade trees and typically hatch at the end of March and early April.  

What do inchworms look like?  

Cankerworms can be green, brown or brown with a black stripe. They are called inchworms because of the peculiar movement they do.  

People aren’t the only ones affected by warm temperatures during the winter months, trees and shrubs are too. So, what does this mean for our plants long term?

What if plants are in bloom during a cold snap?

The buds or bloom can get frozen, but this depends on whether the buds are open or closed when a freeze happens. The damage will be greater when the flowers are open during a freeze. There are some flowers that will be okay during the cold like daffodils. However, other flowers will be zapped by the cold or start to fade away.  

Lichen on the Bark of My Tree  

What is that grayish green or sometimes yellowish stuff on the bark of my trees?  

The stuff that is often found on the bark of trees is lichens. They are unique and harmless, but some consider them to be unsightly. So, what are lichens and what is the treatment for them?

What are lichens?

Lichens on trees are a symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae. The fungus grows on the tree bark and collects moisture, which the algae need. The algae then create food from the sunlight to feed the fungus.

Wild Onions or Star-Of-Bethlehem. What is this giant weed in my lawn? 

This giant, interesting looking weed is called Star-of-Bethlehem. They are perennial weeds (return every year), in the lily family, which grow from a bulb. It may look eerily similar to wild onions or wild garlic that you will see on the lawn around the same time of year.