LSU AGCENTER ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE E-NEWS & TRIAL GARDEN NOTES LATE AND MID FEBRUARY 2015
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LSU AgCenter
Ornamental Horticulture
E-News & Trial Garden Notes
Late and Mid February 2015
Nursery, Landscape & Garden Center Updates
Compiled by Allen Owings, Professor (Horticulture), Hammond Research Station, LSU AgCenter
Edited by Rick Bogren, Professor (Communications), LSU AgCenter
Phone 985-543-4125; Email aowings@agcenter.lsu.edu; www.lsuagcenter.com/hammond
Landscape News Articles (from Allen Owings and Rick Bogren)
February 13 – February Care Enhances Spring and Summer Rose Performance
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2015/February/headline_news/February-
care-enhances-spring-summer-roses-.htm
February 20 – Spring Landscapes Awakening
http://www.lsuagcenter.com/news_archive/2015/February/headline_news/La-
landscapes-beginning-to-awaken-.htm
Louisiana Super Plants – 2015 (from Allen Owings)
Spring – Henna coleus and Fireworks pennisetum
Fall – Homestead Purple verbena and Leslie Ann camellia
Some Top-Performing Caladiums from Hammond Research Station
Trials (from Yan Chen)
Top-performing caladium cultivars of various types that do well in both sun and shade
based on research done at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station include:
Fire Chief – fancy-leaf red
Carolyn Whorton, Elise, Florida Sweetheart – fancy-leaf pink
Moonlight, Garden White – fancy-leaf white
Mount Everest, White Delight, White Dynasty, White Ruffles – lance-leaf white
Bombshell, Hearts Delight, Cherry Tart, Red Ruffles – lance-leaf red
Celebration, Tapestry, Candyland, Raspberry Moon – fancy-leaf multicolor
Highlighter – lance-leaf chartreuse
Description Louisiana Super Plants – Spring 2015 (from Dan Gill)
Two new plants are joining the list of Louisiana Super Plants, with the announcement of
the spring 2015 additions of Fireworks purple fountain grass and Henna coleus as the
latest additions to the program.
The Louisiana Super Plant program is an educational and marketing campaign of the
LSU AgCenter that highlights tough and beautiful plants that perform well in Louisiana
landscapes. Louisiana Super Plants have gone through several years of university
evaluations or have an established history of performing well across Louisiana.
Louisiana Super Plants have a proven track record. They are “university tested and
industry approved.” Homeowners and professionals alike can benefit from using
Louisiana Super Plants to ensure successful landscaping efforts.
Fireworks Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum Fireworks)
• Warm-season bedding plant – tender perennial
• Colorful new variegated cultivar of purple fountain grass
• Hardy down to the mid ’20s
Annual in north Louisiana; semi-hardy perennial in south Louisiana
• Outstanding foliage streaked with red, creamy white and green
• 24 to 30 inches tall; 18 to 24 inches wide
• Full to part sun
• Attractive flower plumes
• Heat tolerant
• Drought tolerant once established
• No major insect or disease problems
• Low maintenance
Henna Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides Henna)
• Warm-season bedding plant – tender perennial
• Grows to about 24 to 30 inches tall
• Outstanding performance at LSU AgCenter trial gardens over a number of years
• Full sun to part shade
• Colorful foliage is shades of gold and chartreuse brushed with burgundy on top,
burgundy underneath and deeply toothed along the edges
• Very heat tolerant
• No major pests
• Full, bushy growth habit
• Very late blooming – flowering is undesirable; foliage is feature
LDAF Press Release – Emerald Ash Borer
The emerald ash borer, a severe insect pest of ash trees, has been confirmed in
Webster Parish, making Louisiana the 25th state to confirm the presence of this beetle.
Emerald ash borer (EAB) is a federally regulated plant pest that almost exclusively
attacks ash trees. It was first reported in the U.S. in Michigan in 2002. The beetle, which
is native to Asia, most likely entered the
country in dunnage or wooden pallets. Since
that time, it has spread down the East Coast
as far south as North Carolina and Georgia,
and west to Colorado. Most recently, it was
found in southern Arkansas in July 2014.
A U.S. Forest Service and Forest Health
Protection employee found evidence of EAB
damage in ash trees during a visual survey.
Further investigation revealed larvae
(immature beetles) beneath the bark of
multiple trees in approximately a two-acre
area. Feeding damage creates characteristic
S-shaped tunnels, or galleries, in the
sapwood, causing initial branch dieback. After
several years, the infested trees die. Larvae
were collected and sent to the USDA
Systematic Entomology Laboratory in
Maryland where they were confirmed as EAB.
“Louisiana’s ash trees are primarily located
along the Atchafalaya Basin and the
Mississippi River Delta. However, ash trees are also planted in many urban areas for its
aesthetic appeal,” said Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner
Mike Strain, D.V.M. “As mentioned last year when EAB was discovered in our
neighboring state of Arkansas, it could be costly for residents or city officials to have
them removed once they start dying.”
The LDAF began drafting an EAB response plan in the fall of 2014 in preparation for the anticipated arrival of EAB in Louisiana. The plan included a survey, outreach and regulatory oversight components and involved multiple federal and state agencies including USDA U.S. Forest Service (USFS), USDA-APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA-PPQ), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Industry associations with interests in forested lands and urban plantings of ash trees also participate as well as the LSU AgCenter. “The LSU AgCenter will continue to support these outreach education efforts to forest landowners and the general public on EAB issues through our regional foresters and parish agriculture and natural resource agents,” said LSU Vice President of Agriculture Bill Richardson. The LDAF and USDA-PPQ have surveyed for EAB adult beetles annually for the past seven years using sticky traps baited with lure scents which are attractive to the beetles. A trap survey will resume again in the spring when adults become active. Survey results will help determine the extent of the beetle presence in the state and the potential regulatory actions necessary to reduce the spread of the pest. Regulated products would include ash nursery stock, ash logs, lumber and pallets and all hardwood firewood. Last October, the LDAF started a “Don’t Move Firewood” campaign which is geared toward educating people about the risks of transporting pests to other locations where some can do harm. It is best to purchase firewood not more than 10 miles from where it will be burned. When traveling, burn firewood where you purchased it and make sure to burn all of it.
Horticulture Lecture Series and Industry Open House – Hammond – Friday May 15
LSU AgCenter Plant Diagnostic Clinic LSU AgCenter Soil Testing and Plant Analysis Lab
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