Six years ago, my wife Sally and I traveled to Madagascar, a beautiful and fascinating island off the southeast coast of Africa. Home to lemurs, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, incredibly bejeweled chameleons, 10 foot tall and 1000 lb. elephant birds (now extinct), and magnificent Baobab trees.
Baobab trees commonly live for 400-500 years, and some reportedly have lived over 2000 years. They are used as wayposts, and were even planted to mark the grave of notable persons, as they will be around for so long. Known as the “Tree of Life” throughout most of Africa, and “Mother of the Forest” in much of Madagascar, their survival skills and adaptation to their environment is remarkable.
Their huge swollen trunks soak up and store enough water from their short rainy season to last through the long drought. They leaf out and grow for only a very short time, then drop those leaves. Also, with rains, the Baobabs put out a profusion of beautiful flowers, and bats, beetles, moths, and other insects feed on sweet nectar. The resulting fruit is about the size of a large coconut, and is eaten by lemurs, as well as being an important food for humans, high in carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals.
The bark of the baobab is used as a fiber for rope, cloth, nets, baskets, and paper. The tree provides welcome shade, even when leafless. So, while the brush surrounding Baobabs is frequently removed for agriculture or other uses, Baobabs are usually left in place.
Another important reason for leaving them in place is the Melagasy indigenous belief of “fady“. Baobabs are seen as either sacred, or taboo, or both. They are inhabited by spirits both good and evil, and if you cut down a Baobab, those spirits will be offended and very troublesome.
Unfortunately, higher average temperatures and more severe droughts seem to be resulting in decline and death for some of the oldest and grandest Baobabs. I fear that as the Baobabs, lemurs, and other marvelous Madagascar wonders go the way of the elephant bird, our children may be dealing with more and more offended and troublesome spirits.
-James
Mosquito Solutions: With all the recent rains, mosquitoes are here. First of all, remove any sources of standing water (that’s where they breed). For your favorite birdbath, use Mosquito Bits in the shaker,for larger ponds or ditches, Mosquito Dunks, both totally safe for birds and frogs. We have several ways to kill, control and repel them.Mosquito Beater hose-end (Permethrin) is an easy spray to killmosquitoes, ants, fleas & tics throughout the yard. It is safe to spray on all plants where mosquitoes hide. We also carry Mosquito Beater Granules which is a combination of natural essential oils to repel. It contains citronella oil, garlic, geranium oil, cedar oil and lemon grass oil. Covers 4000 sq. ft and lasts up to 3 weeks. Patio Egg Diffuser is an easy safe and effective way to help deter mosquitoes and other biting insects from your patio, porch and other outdoor living areas. It protects up to 200 sq. ft. and comes with enough refill oil to last up to 4 months.
Protect Your Roses: Roses are flushing with new growth, setting buds and blooming. That means aphids, thrips, black spot and powdery mildew are next. Bayer 3-in1 Insect, Disease and Mite Control works on all of these in one easy spray. Treat every 10 days to 2 weeks to maintain beautiful roses insect and disease free.Bayer Rose and Flower Care is an excellent fertilizer with systemic insecticide to keep them healthy, blooming and insect free as well. Apply this granules every 6 weeks to prevent aphids and thrips from attacking your roses. 
Simply put, crop rotation is a systematic method of deciding what to plant where in your garden from one season to the next, based on plant groups. Moving plants to a new location each season improves your garden in two ways. First, it helps keep your soil healthy and fertile. Planting the same thing in the same place season after season drains the nutrients from the soil that the plant needs in order to thrive and produce big harvests. Second, rotating plant families helps manage soil-borne diseases like verticillium wilt, and soil-dwelling insects like corn rootworms or root knot nematodes. These types of diseases and pests prefer certain kinds of plants, and the longer the plants stay in the same soil, the better the chance that these enemies will show up and cause trouble.
Crop rotation is not as complicated as it sounds, especially if you take the time to sketch a garden plan and refer to the list of families. The benefits are definitely worth the effort.
