DON'T PRUNE THAT OAK TREE NOW!

PANSIES WAITING ON DECK TO BE PLANTED

YOUNG OAK ON SOUTH SIDE OF HOUSE

DON''T PRUNE THAT OAK NOW!

Monday, 8:30 AM.  54 degrees F at the Ferry Dock, 50 on the back porch.  Wind W, with light to moderate gusts.  The sky is blue and clear the humidity 60% and the barometer rising, now standing at 30.14".  We are in our usual spring drought and need rain badly.
   The hillsides are beginning to assume an ephemeral chartreuse hue, as the leaves of willows, poplars, tamarack, crabapples and other trees unfold.  Soon everything will leaf out and our world will again be lush and green.  All it will take is a good rain
   We have a nice flat of blooming pansies beautifying the back porch as they wait for an opportunity to be planted in the garden and in pots.  They may get taken inside to adorn the living room if the weather again turns really cold, but they are cool-weather plants and are probably outside for good.  In the meantime, they add considerable color wherever they wait.
   While driving the back roads late yesterday afternoon, the weather warm enough for the truck windows to be down, we heard the unmistakable song of little spring peeper frogs in numerous wooded areas near water. The males have an expandable vocal sac with which they sing to attract the ladies.  There is a southern and a northern species, the two overlapping to cover most of the eastern half of the North American continent.  The northern species, Pseudoacrus cruciferae, is an inch or a bit more in length and colored in shades of olive green, with a criss-cross marking on its back.  In some locales the romantic din was amazingly loud, the randy little critters sounding absolutely desperate.
   Oak wilt, Ceratocystus fagacearum, is a usually fatal disease of oak trees.  It infects both woodland and cultivated oaks, and spreads primarily by insect vectors, root grafts and infected pruning tools.  In Wisconsin it is mostly a problem in the southern half of the state, but can be accidentally introduced further north.  Red oaks are more susceptible than white oaks.  This native fungal disease spreads mainly in the spring. Fungicides may be of some use, but sanitation is the main control. To help prevent the spread of the disease, oaks should not be pruned until early summer, when the leaves are fully mature.  Pruning tools should be sterilized with alcohol or bleach after each cut.

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