Rainy days have some gardens looking like it’s still June

Although the calendar tells me it’s midsummer, my inner calendar is stuck in June. Not enough sunshine and too much rain has stalled my inner clockwork. This weather makes me feel a little dissatisfied, off center, a bit lost.

My garden, and others I’ve inspected while driving about, is a little behind due to the cold and rain we’ve had this season. Corn that was supposed to be knee high by the Fourth of July, was ankle high then and is only now getting up to the knee. The garden’s clock, too, has been stalled by this weather.

Despite the turn Mother Nature has taken this season, the perennial gardens have kept their cadence. Herbaceous plants and shrubs have flowered relentlessly, while annuals and the vegetable garden have lagged behind. Those in tune with what is happening in the landscape take sharper notice of these plants while they wait for other gardens to mature and spark their interest.

In this column I answer some reader questions that have come in over the past month. During the height of the gardening season, many gardeners have questions about insect pests. Others take notice of new and interesting plants and want to know more about them. I hope these questions and answers will interest you all in learning more about your garden. If you have a question you would like me to respond to, please send it to the Bangor Daily News at the address below.

Q. How can I prevent a little white worm from making holes in my onion bottoms and making them rot? I had a really bad crop last year. W.M., Lincoln

A. It sounds like you have a problem with the most common pest in onions, the onion maggot. Although there are harsh chemical controls commercial growers use to control the pests (along with a few biological controls), the best control for the home gardener is roughing out and destroying the infected onions. You may reduce the percentage of crop damage by planting onions throughout the garden rather than in one bed, and also by rotating onions throughout the garden from year to year.

Q. Do the fat white worms I see in my garden eat garden plants or are they harmless? C.W., Skowhegan

A. The fat white worms you describe are grubs, and yes, they do eat parts of your crops. Grubs are the larval phase of several different bugs and beetles. Most commonly the grubs we see in Maine are the immature stage of June bugs or Japanese beetles. These critters are white with brown heads and are often spotted curled up into a C shape, in the top few inches of garden soil. The grubs feed on the roots of many vegetable crops, especially corn and beans. Their damage can range from stunted crop growth to destruction of the crop. They are most often found in new garden areas which were recently covered in sod.

Q. I was inspecting a lupine flower recently when I noticed aphids all over the stems of the plants. I also saw ladybugs on the plants. I know aphids feed on lupines, but do ladybugs eat lupines, too? M.G., Standish

A. Ladybugs, or ladybird beetles, are in fact feeding on the aphids. Ladybugs, the small, roundish, red-and-black beetles commonly found throughout Maine gardens, are a gardener’s best aphid control. A female lady bug typically lays her eggs in clusters near an aphid colony, and, once hatched, the small larvae begin searching for and feasting on the aphids. The larvae can consume about 100 aphids per day while the mature adults can consume even more.

To reap the benefits of the ladybug population, it is important to recognize the larvae, and avoid squashing them, mistakingly thinking each one is just another harmful insect in your garden. Although they vary in bodily markings — they may have various color combinations of red, orange, blue and black — the immature larvae are most often described as resembling (on a minute scale) alligators. They have three legs on each side of their thorax. Their head is blunt, their thorax rather compact, and their abdomen is long, tapering down into a black, somewhat pointed tail.

Q. Driving around recently, I’ve noticed flowery shrubs which are generally 3 to 4 feet tall with a profusion of snowball-like blossoms. Do you know what this shrub is? Where can I purchase one? L.B, Lamoine

A. From your description, I’d say you’re referring to the smooth hydrangea, a lovely landscape specimen which make a fabulous show throughout July. Two cultivars — Annabelle and Grandiflora — are more spectacular than the straight Hydrangea arborescens. Annabelle has enormous clusters of flowers (or corymbs) measuring up to 10 inches in diameter, while the flowers of Grandiflora are a bit smaller, measuring anywhere from 6 to 8 inches across. Both varieties are commonly sold at nurseries throughout the state.

Q. What is the Latin name for thyme? Is lemon thyme a variety of common thyme, or is it its own species? D.M., Searsport

A. The Latin name for common thyme is Thymus vulgaris. Lemon thyme is not a variety of common thyme, but rather its own species. The Latin name for lemon thyme is Thymus serpyllum. Both of these plants have an upright habit, while one thyme you haven’t mentioned, Thymus praecox or creeping thyme, is prostrate. While the former thymes are used in herb gardens or border gardens, the later is an excellent selection for planting on walkways between flagstone.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, c/o MaineWeekend, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.