Japanese holly fern is a popular fern in the southeastern United States. This plant is native to Japan. It forms a rounded mound that can be up to 3 feet wide and 1 1/2 feet tall. The foliage is glossy and very dark green.

Herbaceous perennials are winter hardy ornamental plants that reappear each spring from their crowns or root systems. Many species can be used as groundcovers or landscape plantings to provide color for extended seasons. Some major species in production and landscape use are daylily, lantana, verbena, purple coneflower and black-eyed Susan.

The LSU AgCenter conducts greenhouse and landscape research on many new bedding plants each year to determine production practices to assist growers and observe performance in the landscape to provide garden centers, landscape professionals and home gardeners information on how these plants will perform under Louisiana’s growing conditions.

Production input expenses for crop producers continue to rise. To reduce these costs, particularly fuel and labor, growers can co-apply multiple pesticides and eliminate trips across fields.

Farmers must rely on fungicides to protect their crops from certain diseases. One of the most serious of these diseases is Asian soybean rust, which is spread by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi.

A “gorilla” of a barnyardgrass and a “tough critter” nematode are two of the problems being tackled by LSU AgCenter researchers as reported at the June 24, 2008, field day at the Northeast Research Station in St. Joseph.

To obtain maximum effectiveness of fall/winter herbicide programs, applications should be timed to emergence of winter weeds preferably once temperatures have cooled in late November or December. Producers are cautioned that although effective through winter months, these programs may not eliminate the need for a follow-up treatment before or at planting.

The use of the twin-drill (twin-row) configuration on 36- to 40-inch-wide beds is of interest to Midsouth producers, but as yet it is unproven as a yield enhancement practice for most agronomic crops.

LSU AgCenter Master Gardeners and Kids Hope volunteers have helped transform a once dull courtyard at University Terrace Elementary school into a flowering oasis.

Transgenic plants that express insecticidal proteins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis(Bt) have become standard for managing many caterpillar pests in cotton.