Coeur d'Alene Garden Club

08/22/2026

Time to sharpen the pruners!

08/18/2026

Here's a good budworm description

TO***CO BUDWORM
Are you seeing holes in your flowers, tiny eggs on the leaves or black specs on the stems?

These are characteristic symptoms indicating the presence of the To***co Budworm. The larvae attack several ornamental flowers including petunia, rose, geranium, and nicotiana. They feed primarily on buds, petals, and developing seed pods, but will feed on shoot tips and foliage if flower buds are not available.
On most hosts, larvae prefer to tunnel into buds, but they will also feed on the petals of opened flowers (especially on petunia). Damaged buds fail to open, resulting in loss of color in floral plantings. If buds open, flowers and leaves appear ragged or tattered.

The adult is a greenish-brown moth with cream-colored bands on the wings. It is about 3/4 inch long with a wingspan of about 1 1/2 inches. Eggs are laid on blossoms, fruit, or shoot tips of plants. Very young larvae are yellowish or light-yellow green, but the color of older larvae is variable.

NON-CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
-Avoid use of broad-spectrum insecticides which kill natural predators of garden pests.
-Consider planting less-susceptible plants. For instance, ivy geranium is reported to be damaged less frequently than standard horticultural geraniums.
-Monitor plants closely for damage. Handpick and destroy larvae and infested buds on roses, petunias, and geraniums.
-Scout for larvae at dusk, when they are most active. Check for actively-feeding larvae, small holes in buds and flowers, and caterpillar droppings (frass or f***s) associated with damaged buds.

https://extension.colostate.edu/resource/tobacco-geranium-budworm/
Image of caterpillar via Wikimedia commons

08/12/2026

Let’s see pictures of what’s blooming in your garden right now! I need some inspiration for August flowers! 🌺

08/06/2026

Enjoy a night under the stars with Shared Harvest Community Garden

08/01/2026

07/23/2026

Do you have Iris? When was the last time you divided them? 👀

07/21/2026

🦋 Members of the Coeur d’Alene Garden Club enjoyed a wonderful visit to WingsRising, Inc. in Athol, where Patrick and Susan gave us an up-close look at the incredible life of the monarch butterfly (which is also the official state insect of Idaho!).

From tiny eggs to caterpillars, chrysalises, and finally beautiful butterflies, we learned that this amazing transformation takes just 35–45 days. Spring and summer monarchs live only a few weeks—just long enough to produce the next generation. But the final generation of the season is truly extraordinary, migrating thousands of miles to central Mexico, where they can live up to 9 months!

We also learned about the 3 types of milkweed they grow, along with the butterfly tagging programs they use to help scientists track monarch migration, from traditional numbered tags to advanced solar-powered tracking technology.

WingsRising raises monarchs in several butterfly enclosures, hosts butterfly releases throughout the season, and supplies eggs, caterpillars, and chrysalises to other butterfly education programs throughout the northwest.

A heartfelt thank you to Patrick and Susan for sharing their passion, knowledge, and dedication to monarch conservation. It was a fascinating, inspiring, and fun day for all! 🦋

07/19/2026

Good information, especially for those entering our 🍅Tomato Tango🍅 contest! How are your tomatoes growing?

TOMATO PROBLEMS - PHYSIOLOGICAL LEAF ROLL

Physiological leafroll does not affect fruit yield or quality. A response by tomato plants to fairly extreme changes in soil moisture levels is thought to be associated with physiological leafroll. Prolonged dry soil conditions, high nitrogen levels, a phosphorus deficiency, severe pruning while plants are under dry soil conditions, or wet soil conditions with accompanying hot temperatures have also been associated with this problem.

Symptoms: The edges of many but not all leaves on affected plants roll upward and inward, sometimes the leaf sides touch or overlap. The leaf rolling can be transient or may persist throughout the rest of the growing season.

How to prevent?
-Plant determinate tomato varieties.
-Maintain a well-timed irrigation schedule that prevents overly-dry and overly-wet soils.
-Practice a balanced, appropriate fertilizer regime.
-Protect plants from temperatures above 95°F.

https://pnwhandbooks.org/node/3623/print
Graphic via canva

07/16/2026

Oh this is great advice! 👍

07/08/2026

Thank you to the UI Extension, Kootenai County Idaho Master Gardeners for the guided tour of their beautiful pollinator garden today! 🌸🐝