The Garden Thyme Podcast

A monthly podcast where we help you get down and dirty in your garden, with timely gardening tips, information about native plants, and more! The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. https://extension.umd.edu/. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

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The Garden Thyme Podcast

S3:E04 Spring Ephemerals

April 06, 2022 • Garden Thyme Podcast • Season 3 • Episode 4

Hello Listener,

April is National Garden Month! So Happy National Garden Month everyone. One of the most clear signals of spring is the emergence of spring ephemerals- daffodils, crocus, tulips… these bulbs are some classic examples, but we have so many more to enjoy! Our woodland wildflowers may be more subtle, but are no less impressive and are even more rewarding. This month we taking a break from our garden and all the spring chores to talk about some of our favorite woodland spring ephemerals.

Ephemeral covered n this episode includes: Dutchman’s Breeches, Virginia Bluebells, Mayapples, Bellworts, Spring Beauty's, Jack-in-the-pulpit and Pink Lady Slipper.

We also have our:

Native Plant of the Month ( Sessile trillium) at 22:15
Bug of the Month (Termites) at 25:35
Garden Tips of the Month at (36:55)

If you have any garden-related questions, please email us at UMEGardenPodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GardenThymePodcas. For more information about UME and these topics, please check out the UME Home and Garden Information Center and Maryland Grows Blog at https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/.

The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Senior Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture, Rachel Rhodes- Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County), and Emily Zobel-Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

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The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Principal Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture; Rachel Rhodes- Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County); and Emily Zobel- Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

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Episode 304
Spring Ephemeral
April 2022

Note: The Garden Thyme Podcast is produced for the ear and is designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.

:Up beat music:

Emily

Hello, listener, and welcome to the University of Maryland Extension Presents, the Garden Thyme Podcast, where we talk about getting down and dirty in your garden. We're your hosts.

Rachel

I'm Rachel.

Mikaela

I'm Mikaela.

Emily

And I'm Emily. And this month's episode, we're talking all about Spring Ephemeral.

Rachel

Woohoo.

Mikaela

Because nothing says happy spring like things popping out of the ground and blooming and then leaving immediately for something hot in here, back in their bags for summer. I identify very strongly with Spring Ephemeral.

Rachel

Me, too.

Emily

Yeah. I feel like it's the perfect life. You show up when it's springtime, it's that nice weather, and then when it gets hot out and you're sweaty and gross, you're like, no, I'm going to go back into the ground. Just tired. I don't want to have it. Before we dive into Spring Ephemerals, happy National Gardening Month, everybody.

Rachel

Exciting.

Emily

So, April, what is National Gardening Month? This used to just be National Gardening Week, which was designated by President Ronald Reagan back in the eighties, I think, and then it was turned into a whole month via the American Gardening Association in the early 2000s. So happy National Gardening Month, everybody.

Mikaela

It was so important, it graduated from a week to a month. Yeah, I agree with that.

Emily

Yeah. And I feel like it makes sense that it's April because this is that early spring season when we're all tired of winter and we're tired of it being cold and we're ready to see life in our gardens. We're ready to get out there and enjoy some sunshine. So it's the perfect month to make National Gardening Month.

Mikaela

I agree. So people do love and enjoy spring for many reasons, but mostly because it starts to get warmer out and it signals everything in the outdoors that it's time to start growing, time to get going. Unless you're me, because I love living in a polar vortex and I will bid winter goodbye until next time. But one of the most clear signals of spring is the emergence of Spring Ephemerals, which is why I think they deserve their own episode so much. Because there are so many.

Emily

Exactly.

Mikaela

And the ones most people are probably thinking about are commercial varieties like Daffodils, Crocus, Tulips. And while those are some classic examples, we have so many more to enjoy. And in fact, dare I say, this episode is kind of featuring native Spring Ephemerals the most. So it's pretty exciting that our woodland wildflowers, while they might be more subtle, they, I think are no less impressive and even more rewarding as you see them because of their brief time in life. So first of all, before we get going down this path, because we're already throwing this term around a lot, is the word Ephemeral. So Ephemeral is a term that refers to plants with a transitory or fading life cycle. It's usually short or seasonal. So in this instance, it's spring. They use growth strategies to take advantage of limited resources. So specifically, spring they're taking advantage of light that would normally not be available to them in the summer because the leaves of the canopy would be out. So light or competition with other plants might be other factors. The Spring Ephemerals use that short above ground life cycle to soak in the sunlight. Like I said before, the trees and the understory shrubs leaf out and shade the ground below.

Mikaela

And so while the time above ground is relatively short growth phase, the plant actually never stops working. Even when it goes dormant in the summer, it spends the rest of the year and the rest of winter continuing its development. So it's working on next year's growth and those roots continue well after spring, so it's preparing for its very short time in the sun year round.

Rachel

You know that I love fun facts. You do. So Spring Ephemerals tend to photosynthesize best at temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius, so that's about 68 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a very brief time frame for the Ephemeral to complete its above ground life cycle. And this is also known as epigynous growth. Spring Ephemerals should be appreciated for their beautiful and transitionary display.

Emily

I don't know, every time I look at my yard in spring, I always think of something I have to do and that sort of makes it so I don't appreciate nature in that beautiful weather. So a great way to enjoy these flowers in particular and still get some of that nature without some of the chore stress is to go enjoy a leisurely walk in your local woodland or forest area.

Mikaela

Well said, Emily. Now that you say that, you're absolutely right. The only thing I do is make a chore list of all the things I have to get done in the spring.

Emily

I know I have so many sticks in my backyard from all the storms. It was windy.

Rachel

One thing to remember as you purchase plants this spring is that ephemerals are particularly tricky to visualize and you may want to look up photos and timings of Spring Ephemerals to make sure you're planting them appropriately and right for your location. These are not a good group of plants to make impulse purchases with. Is that a bad thing for a gardener? I mean, I feel like we all make impulse purchases.

Mikaela

Oh, it's do as I say, not as I do, because I totally make impulse purchases.

Emily

I feel like that has to be restated twice just for totally these are not good plants for impulse purchases.

Mikaela

They really aren't, because if they aren't in the right spot, they're not going to do anything justice.

Rachel

I cannot tell you how many times I've planted bleeding heart in the worst place ever just because I'm like, you're going to grow here.

Mikaela

Well, and they're a hard one to transplant. In fact, I don't even know how you would do it because technically you're not supposed to transplant things when they're in bloom like that's kind of a vulnerable time but I don't know when else you would transplant these because that's the only time you can find them because they die back. For the rest of the year you'd be hunting with your shovel and that's not good for them either. So I don't know.

Emily

Okay, so we're going to take a few moments now and we're going to talk about some of our favorite Spring Ephemerals.

Mikaela

Springtime roll call. Sorry, I've been watching a lot of Encanto lately. So while we talk a lot about these wonderful woodland wildflowers and we talk about enjoying them and making great additions to the garden, we want to make sure everybody understands that we do not condone digging these up in the wild or transplanting and, removing them. You are better off obtaining them from a reputable nursery and growing source and it's much easier anyways. But it's well worth the money to support those nurseries and not take these from their native source. We don't encourage that of any kind.

Emily

You can also just make a note where they are and go back and visit them yearly.

Mikaela

Exactly. Take pictures, not plants. They make better pictures in some ways.

Emily

So Rachel, do you want to start our Spring Ephemeral roll call with one of your favorite Spring Ephemerals?

Rachel

I really, really like Dutchman's Breeches. Dutchman's Breeches is a herbaceous perennial and it's part of the Fumariaceae family. This unique name comes from the flower's resemblance to a pair of pantaloons hanging upside down. So just imagine a pair of white pants hanging upside down in your clothesline. They're absolutely adorable. And this native wildflower is coming throughout the eastern United States. Although it is rarer through the Pacific Northwest, the western populations appear to have separated from the eastern ones for at least 1000 years according to Flora of North America. The western plants are somewhat coarser in appearance but generally indistinguishable from their eastern counterparts. This species has many common names depending on what part of the country you come from or live, including soldier's cap, white hearts, eardrops, monk's head, butterfly banners, my favorite name, kittens breeches. I know. Or bachelor's breeches, little boys breeches and staggerweed. Now you guys know that I love toxic plants.

Emily

You do?

Rachel

So the term staggerweed actually is derived from its ability to induce drunken staggering of cattle that graze on it due to the narcotic and toxic substances. Because this plant is actually from the poppy related genus.

Emily

That's a really interesting fact.

Rachel

It is. So if you're going to plant it, don't plant it around anything that's going to chew on it like dogs, cats, cattle, children. So Dutchman's Breeches blooms early in the spring from March to April and the flowers can range from white to pink. The flowers were wilt almost immediately upon picking so they should not be collected in the wild. And I think we're going to say that with every single one of these Spring Ephemerals is that you should not be collecting them. The perennial species has rice like seed bulbs and is attractive in addition to any garden that has a moist, shady area.

Mikaela

I'd say that a lot of these Spring Ephemerals don't make good cut flowers anyways because I've seen it elsewhere, like I'm about to do Virginia Bluebells, but they say don't bother cutting them because they really don't last very long as a cut flower. So the best way to enjoy Spring Ephemerals is right where they are growing. Take pictures, not plants. So I have Virginia Bluebells up next. So this is Mertensia Virginica, and these are a group of plants that are native to the Mid Atlantic, including Maryland, and it goes by many names, but the one I'm the most familiar with is Virginia Bluebells, currently in bloom. So it blooms as early as March in some parts of the state, and then it goes dormant in the summer, just like the rest of the Ephemerals. And just like the name implies, it has a very striking color of flower. So it's very violet blue in color. It has large, coarsely shaped leaves. In fact, I think oyster leaf is one of the many names that this has because it kind of does resemble the shape of an oyster shell. And the flower does have some variation in nature, although surely there are some varieties out there that highlight lavender or pink tones, but most often you'd run into this with the blue tones instead.

Mikaela

Another wonderful addition to a woodland or shaded garden. It does look, I think, very commercial. So I think it's pretty showy, is what I mean to say. So it doesn't look as wild or natural, which are some people's passive aggressive way of saying something's not very showy. So I think this is quite a showy addition to the garden. And it usually occurs along stream beds and in kind of like moist wooded areas that has a lot of organic matter. So aka a lot of leaf litter or leaf mold. And I'm also doing the next plant pick here is Mayapples so Podophyllum Peltatum, and this is a lovely, very common woodland ground cover. It has two umbrella like leaves that pop up, and they do look like they pop up. They almost look like mushrooms at first because they've got that kind of umbrella shape. They do bloom. They have these little white flowers that go below the leaves, so sometimes they're missed because the flowers aren't on top. So not as showy as the Bluebells, but those flowers turn into edible golden fruits that can be found made into jellies. Some people eat them raw.

Mikaela

I don't recommend wild foraging of this at all because the other parts of the plant are actually poisonous. So they have a kind of risky foraging technique. So the fruits have kind of a musky flavor and smell. They're not my favorite, I'll say, but they do have these edible fruits. This group does form a dense community in the understory of forests and this is a very common plant to find, very easily found. In about late spring, early summer, it starts to get this rust disease characterized by the very orange spores that show up. So it does tend to look a little rough by the end of spring. But that's the good news about this kind of plant is that it'll die back before summer and then you won't see it again until spring. So it kind of takes care of that disease life cycle itself.

Rachel

I love finding this plant when I walk in the woods.

Mikaela

This is actually one of my favorite groups of Spring Ephemerals is the Bellworts. So this is Uvularia and I think we have about four or five species in Maryland that are native. Two of them are going to be the most commonly found Perfoliatcecile Bellwort and Sessile Bellwort. And we'll find these across the state, mostly in the western part of the state. So this definitely likes a more mountainous habitat. So it belongs in the hills and the mountains. This is a very subtle group of woodland wildflowers. They look very ethereal and they look perfect for like a fairy garden just like the name implies. It's got these bell like flowers that hang down and the petals are actually twisted and the flower petals are also kind of yellow and they range from dark yellow to like greenish yellow. But this is perfect for a children's fairy garden in the woods. This looks like something that would belong there. One of my favorite things to find hiking in the early spring season. So if I go out west this is one of my favorite things to run into.

Emily

Nice. They're very cute.

Mikaela

They are so cute.

Rachel

They're adorable.

Emily

So on that note, one of my favorite things to hunt for in the woods Jack-in-the-pulpit. I love these guys because they're sort of those oddballs in that they don't have what we would traditionally think of as like a flower. So for those of you guys that don't know, this is a shade loving species and it's found in rich moist soil, normally in woods and in the flood plains around creeks and rivers. They're super long living despite their short time above ground, so they can live 25 plus years. They are actually pollinated by really small flies and they flower in March through June depending on the location. But again, the flower is sort of unusual in that it's a green and maroon striped spatula that surrounds a maroon colored spadix and then it bears tiny little flowers inside of that. It will also produce bright red berries later on, which are a really great food source for birds and rodents. The leaves of the flowers do contain calcium oxide which can irritate the skin. So again, we don't necessarily recommend collecting seeds or berries from this, but if you do come encountered with them and you for some reason rub up against them.

Emily

You want to make sure that you wash your hands as well.

Mikaela

I think it looks alien even though like berry looks like it produces something alien.

Emily

Yeah. One of my other favorite Spring Ephemerals that we get is Spring Beauties and this is in the genus Claytonia. We've got two native ones that you would find here in Maryland and this is where Maryland is kind of ideal because we have the Virginia variety that tends to like northern climates better and then we have the southern varieties. So the Carolina version that likes the warmer climate. And because of where Maryland is situated right between those two, this is a small plant that's going to be low to the ground and it's going to have loose clusters of pink to white flowers. Sometimes they are white with pink stripes on them, which I think are darling looking and they tend to only be about four to about twelve inches on the stem. And you can tell the difference between the Virginia and the Caroline version based on the shape of their leaf. The Virginia ones tend to have a pair of smooth grasslike leaves that occur about halfway up the stem versus the Caroline ones tend to have more broad oval oblike leaves. You do tend to find these guys in large patches because they grow via underground tubers.

Emily

So think of it like a small potato and apparently they are edible and people used to eat them and they have sort of a chestnutty like flavor. You do tend to find these kind of in woodland to meadow areas or then that transition area from the woods straight into the meadow as well. Again, early springtime, but you can also find them in a wide variety of other habitats. People will find them growing on their lawns. You can find them in city parks, roadsides. Now Mikaela, would this be a good lawn alternative?

Mikaela

It might be in the right location, but I think you're going to have trouble finding this one for sale commercially. I don't see it often.

Emily

That's a shame because it's super pretty. And I actually had that thought of like, let me just rip up all my turf grass and put this in and then have this be one that was the early bloom for my pollinator garden. One of my other favorite Spring Ephemerals is Pink lady's slippers. And I know Rachel being our resident orchid lover, also loves these just as much. So Rachel, what can you tell us about Pink lady's slippers?

Rachel

Skunk cabbage and Pink lady's slippers are how I identify spring and for some people it might be Daffodils or Crocus, but for me it was always walking in the woods with my grandfather and he would be identifying different plants and we would always come across Pink lady's slippers. And to me that's one of those ingrained childhood memories. And at the time, 30 plus years ago, they were incredibly common on the Eastern Shore, very easy to find during a woodland walk. And due to the transition of land and plants and how forests evolve, they're increasingly hard to find. And I think this is one we've harped on this with all of the plants. This is absolutely one that you are not to pick at all. Don't pick it, just don't even think about picking it. Don't even think about it.

Emily

Well, I think it's important to say that even if you do pick it, the flower is not going to live very long, so it's not worth it. And this is another one that really shouldn't be dug up because it has this really unique symbiotic relationship with soil funguses. So if you dig it up, it's not going to survive very well because you're not going to get enough soil to harbor and keep the fungus that it is in that symbiotic relationship with alive.

Rachel

So the Pink lady's slipper is a native orchid to the East Coast, part of the US. And part of Canada. It loves acidic soil and it's most commonly found in pine forests with sandy lowlands, and it always tends to be found in a colony. It has two opposite basil leaves with parallel veins and a large flower at the end of an erect stalk. The flower is magenta to whitish to pink, and it's rarely ever all white. It's mostly like the name describes it's, a Pink lady's slipper, almost, as you would imagine, a light pink ballet slipper. It grows to about six to 15 inches tall and it usually blooms between May and early July. And on the Eastern Shore, I usually find it closer to that May mid June range. But usually, like early May is when you can start to see it coming up in the forest. It has a very low germination rate, so it's not recommended to try to collect seeds. And as Emily mentioned, it does have a symbiotic relationship with soil fungus. The flower does attract bees inside for pollination. However, it is a trap and the flowers offer no reward in the way of nectar to the bee.

Rachel

So the bee learns to avoid these plants, which results in a low pollination rate. They are lured into the flower pouch through a slit in the front and they are attracted by the flower's bright color and sweet scent. They smell amazing. But once inside, the bee finds no reward and discover that they're trapped with only one point of escape. Inside the pouch are little hairs that lead to a pair of exit openings and one beneath has a pollen mass. And the bee must pass under the stigma so it only bears pollen from a visit to another flower. It will be deposited before picking up a fresh load on the way out. Smart little plant.

Emily

I think this is really sort of uniquely genius because you do orchids are really unique in that they've evolved this really cool relationship with a lot of bees to be very specialized.

Mikaela

Some really good ones. You guys like, I'm surprised we haven't talked about them prior to this.

Rachel

I know, and I feel like there's more that we could talk about. We could probably make a whole other episode.

Emily

I know this is a pretty short list and I think these are just some of our favorites that we either remember seeing or we go hunting for in the springtime. Yeah, I think it's a nice change from our own gardens into how to get out into nature for a little bit.

Rachel

Now I want to go for a walk in the woods.

Mikaela

It's the native plant of the month with Mikaela.

Mikaela

So basically I'm just using Native Plant of the Month this month to talk about more Spring Ephemerals because this is also a spring ephemeral. It's Sessile Trillium or Trillium Sessile. So it's not a very complicated scientific name. But seriously, how do I pick just one native Plant of the Month for April? Because April is just kind of like one of those bang up kind of months. So this is a pretty stacked group of plants and we have a lot to choose from. The Trillium group is a very large one, so there's a lot of native species, although there are a lot of cultivated species available that offer like double bloom and variegation and wider range of colors. But of course this is Native Plant of the Month, so I'm not going to talk about those. There are about 50 species of native Trilliums, and this Sessile Trillium, is also known as Toadshade, which I think is a terrible name. I think it doesn't really do it justice. It's a very long lived group of perennials and they have leaf and flower parts in threes, hence the scientific name Tri. In the beginning for Trillium. This particular plant has three broad leaves and they have a modeled appearance, which I guess is why it's referenced as Toadshade because it kind of does look like an amphibian skin.

Mikaela

So the leaves are actually bracts and the flowers are erect and they are dark maroon to brownish maroon. They're actually really pretty, so they kind of look like a candle flame in the middle of these three big leaves, or bracts, I should say. So some plants actually lack the anthocyanin pigment, which is what makes plants red. It's a red pigment in a lot of different kind of plants. And so their sepals, or the flowers in this case are yellow green instead. So there is this kind of variation of color in nature and they're particularly striking because of the attractive foliage and it's going to emerge from early to late spring. But the little sepals, the flowers that go in the middle, those are just kind of like an added bonus. They are just really neat, really cool looking plants. And Trilliums are a complicated species that when they're planted appropriately, have real impact in the spring. So it takes an appreciation for the seasons and appreciation for these Ephemeral plants in order to enjoy the beauty of them. So again, just another advocate for getting out this spring. There are some tasks and some chores that can wait.

Mikaela

Take the opportunity to see a lot of these spring things in bloom. And that's my native plant of the month.

Emily

I actually think these are really cool looking.

Mikaela

They are so cool. I mean, Toadshade is a terrible name, but it is a really neat plant.

Rachel

See, all I can think about is the Beatrix Potter book. The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher. And like a little toad sitting under a plant, I can just see it alive in a book.

Mikaela

They're so neat. They look so silly.

Rachel

Such a cute little name. See?

Mikaela

You don't like it?

Rachel

I love it.

Emily

What buzzing? It's the bug of the month, with Emily.

Emily

So I'm doing another wood boring insect for this month's bug of the month, which is termites. And this is one that I know a lot of people don't really want, and I wouldn't want them either. So most, if not all of the species that we have that are native to Maryland are subterranean, so they live underground. And the most common pest species is the eastern subterranean termite. We do have some native species that are not going to be pests in your home. They just live out in nature. They feed it on dead wood that is found on logs and limbs and stuff like that. So not every species would be considered a pest. Not everyone likes necessary feeding on the wood that would be used for structural purposes. So termites are a social insect, meaning that they live in a colony. In this case, their colonies can be several million individuals, just like honeybees or other bees. They do have sort of a caste system, but unlike something like honeybees, where the caste system is based off of age, the termite caste system is basically a division of labor.

Emily

And once you are in that caste system, you stay in that caste system.

Mikaela

So when you say social insects, you don't mean they go out for drinks after work?

Emily

No, they don't go afterwards. So unlike honey bees, which are pretty much mainly female, with only male bees being used for reproduction, so drones only, termites are much more gender neutral in that insects with both genders can do both roles. So you will have workers and soldiers that are both male and female, and obviously the reproductive stages will be both male and female. So termite workers are typically about a quarter of inch in length, and they're going to be cream colored and eyeless because again, they live underground, so they don't need pigments and they don't need to see. They tend to do most of their navigating via pheromones or chemical trails. They are responsible for forging building the tunnels and caring for the young. These are the largest group or the largest caste in the termite colony. And they'll make up about 90% to 98% of the colony. Now, soldier termites are the next one and they will make up 2 to 5% of the population of that colony. And these guys, their sole job is basically to take care of the workers and make sure that the workers don't get eaten by ants or anything else like that.

Emily

So they tend to defend the colony against ants and competitor termites. You can tell the difference between these guys and the workers in that they will have a darker colored head that tends to be larger and they will have really large mandible or teeth out in front. Finally, the last caste system that you will have will be the reproductive versions. These tend to be dark in color because these are the only ones that will actually come above ground. And they can sometimes have wings, particularly when they are getting ready to swarm or set off to make a new colony. But you also find them without wings, which may be either that they are a life stage that is in a colony that's established and they're not getting ready to swarm, or they could have been the swarmer ones that have ripped off their wings after they've established a colony. This is the caste that is responsible for mating and laying eggs. But there's actually different rank levels even among the reproductive ones in termites. So this is literally like some Game of Thrones, Henry VIII Tutors, first wife, second wife, king and queen versus dukes and lords.

Emily

There's ranking even here. Guys, termite drama, it is your primary reproductors are going to be the king and queen and these are going to be the dark in color. Traditionally, when a new colony is formed, you have these guys are laid in a different colony. They leave that colony so they have wings. They leave their parent colony as what we call swarmers. So they fly away from the parent colony and pair up to establish a new colony. Unlike ants, bees and wasps, male reproductive termites, also known as king, will actually stick around and assist the female or queen with forming the colony. And he will remain inside the colony and will mate with the queen repeatedly over time. So something like bees. A lot of times the queen will go do what we call her nuptial flight, and she'll have lots of koitus with lots of different bees, and then she never invites them back to her hive versus, in this case, the kings stick around. And he kind of helps out as much as he would help out, not being a worker or anything like that.

Mikaela

Loser.

Rachel

What does he do if he's not a worker?

Emily

He sticks around for me.

Mikaela

What a loser. Basically, his services.

Rachel

His service is as needed.

Emily

Once they have paired up and fallen back to the ground, the swarmers themselves. Will shed their wings and attempt to establish a new colony. And these primary ones can live ten to 15 years. So it will take a longer time for termite colonies to establish. So a lot of times we think of colonies as something like wasps where you have a new colony every single year and it sort of dies out in the queen overland. Not the case in termites because, again, they're living underground. It's a more stable environment. These colonies are much slower to grow, but they will grow and live for much longer. A well established colony oftentimes will have what we call secondary and tertiary reproductive casts as well. So basically, if you have reproductive ones so again, these guys tend to be larger and they're dark if you have wing pads that form but not true wings. So they're not swarmers, they're not going to spread. We call these secondary reproductives and then if they have no wings or wing pads at all, we call these tertiary reproductive. So they're still performing that role of reproducing and laying eggs for more workers and soldiers.

Emily

But it's just whether or not they ever had wings or have the capacity to get them. So colonies are slow to grow and it'll often take five years for a colony to reach the size needed in order for it to start causing structural damage to a building or even to invade a building or produce swarmers that could potentially get into your structural buildings. A lot of times, particularly in the spring, is when swarmers will start emerging and this is when people will start noticing them. So a lot of times they can be mistaken for winged ants because winged ants will also have that kind of black body. They're similar in size. But some key things that you can look at to tell them apart is termites are going to have long wings that are the same shape and they tend to be longer than the body. Versus ants will have a front wing that is longer than their hind wing and their wings are often only about the length of their body. Termites are also going to have straight antennas versus ants are going to have an antenna that's elbowed. A termite doesn't have a constricted waist so it's going to be the same kind of width the entire way down.

Emily

Versus an ant is going to have that pinched in waist and then the rest of the abdomen following it. Termites are unique in that they're one of the few animals that are able to utilize cellulose as a food source. And they don't do this on their own. They have some specialized microbials that live in their guts that basically are able to break down that cellulose and convert it into nutrients that the termite can use. And again, out in nature, termites are actually pretty useful in that they feed on things like old roots, tree stumps, fallen tree limbs and branches. So this is a great way out in nature for that wood to get recycled. It's just an issue of that when they move into our structural buildings that they become a problem. So termite infestations can be difficult to determine because again, termites for the most part in this area are subterranean, so they're living underground. And if they are tunneling into woods, they're normally tunneling into the inside of the woods. So you're not necessarily going to see them walking up and down the wood like you would ants. So what you want to do is keep an eye out for the following things.

Emily

You want to look for dirt tunnels or shelter tunnels. So these are going to be tunnels that are about a quarter of inch wide, sometimes wider along the foundation or along exposed wood. Look for soil packed in cracks and crevices, again, mainly around your foundation. You can also look for piles of silvery membraneous wings, which again the swarmers would have removed. And then look for dark or blistered areas in wood paneling. This is going to be a sign from where as the termites kind of feed in that wood, it opens it up for more water, which in return can have fungal growth happening. So that would be a possibility that you could see there. You may also notice some structural weaknesses over time. So for instance, if you're noticing your floor now has a weird creek to it that it didn't have, or the floor is starting to sag, you may want to call a pest control company to come out and scout for termites. And that's ultimately what we recommend doing. We don't recommend treating for termites on your own. If you suspect you have them, please reach out to a professional pest control company and have someone come out and check and treat for them.

Emily

I think that's all I've got for termites.

Mikaela

It's a good one.

Rachel

Those are great suggestions and it's one of those insects that we always get calls about in the spring.

Mikaela

Yeah, I'm going to hit you with a question and it doesn't have to be included if we don't want it to be. So a lot of people are afraid of leaving like stumps or big pieces of wood near the house in the event that it attracts termites. Do you have any comment about whether that's safe or whether they should be getting rid of stuff like that?

Emily

I would say like having something like a loose piece of like two x four or something like that near your house. I wouldn't think that that would bring in termites. You might get carpenter bees on it. Like I have two x fours that were lined up against my house. They had carpenter bees in them, but not so much termites because I think termites are ultimately looking for something more long term. And ultimately, if you are getting termites in your house, normally that's something that's showing that there's some other issue going on. Like, potentially you may have a leaky pipe or something like that because they don't normally like that very dry wood. They normally like something that's a little bit more moist because, again, traditionally out of nature you would have a dead log or something like that. If you're living in a house surrounded by the woods, I may encourage you to every few years to definitely have a pest control company come out and go down in your crawl space and check for these guys just to be on the safe side.

Mikaela

Thank you. I think about it often because my husband likes to keep firewood at the ready, even in the middle of summer, and it always makes me nervous having pieces of dead wood just laying around perennially, although we went through a lot of it this winter.

Emily

So hopefully I would say if it's something like a wood pile like that, I would recommend putting a tarp down and then putting it on top of that because then you're separating out the termite's ability to get to the wood. Carpenter and mason bees are going to be more interested in that wood pile than termites would just because it's like open in the air. When you do get termites in structural things, it tends to be that wood that's like in the crawl space. That's like coming right in direct contact with the ground.

Mikaela

Good to know.

Rachel

Get your tip of the month here with Rachel.

Rachel

So we've talked about our native Spring Ephemerals. We do have many different types of spring bulbs that emerge and are flowering in April. Once they have finished blooming, remove the spent flowers, but leave the green leaves and let it yellow as it dies back naturally. Even though the Daffodil foliage or Crocus foliage or even Tulip foliage can get unruly, allow those leaves to remain for at least six weeks. You'll see people braid or tie the leaves together with rubber bands. This is a really timely endeavor and it actually results in the leaves manufacturing smaller amounts of food for the bulb, which in turn results in smaller blooms. The following year, after your allotted six weeks have passed, you can remove the leaves by cutting them and the blooms will be fine the next year. We're all starting to mow our grass in April and I want everyone to cut it high and let it lie. You want to make sure that you're cutting between that three to four inch high mark for the growing season and cut off no more than one third of the leaf blade with each mowing.

Rachel

It's spring, make sure your blades are sharp. I feel like I say that every spring just to remind people, unsharp blade is going to damage your grass and you're going to have more fungal issues and disease problems, so get those blades sharpened. As Emily mentioned, with termites, there are going to be different types of foraging ants that appear in your home in the spring. If you must use a bait. The liquid or gel formulations are really quite effective, and you want to keep those out of reach of children and pets. If you are planting a spring garden, it's time to start your squash, melons, and cucumbers indoors to be transplanted in the garden in mid May. It takes about two to three weeks for them to get up to size, and you can plant them directly in the garden in mid May to mid June. You can also start seeds of basil and terragon cilantro, parsley, dill. These are awesome herbs to add to your garden. If you have some leftover rosemary or thyme, even lavender, you can try doing some cuttings with those. They usually work better with cuttings versus seeds. And as you are getting ready to transition your plants out into the garden, you want to make sure that you're hardening them off so you're not putting them right out in the garden.

Rachel

After they've been inside your house for six to eight weeks, you're going to put them gradually outside for about two weeks before you plant them. So say they're going to be planted on May 15. Outside. On May 1, you're going to slowly transition them outside. So on May 1, put them out for a couple of hours in the shade and no wind. And then the next day, bring them outside for a few more hours and slowly move those plants into direct sunlight and longer times outside. The colorful and charismatic Eastern box turtles and various species of snakes are coming out of hibernation and may visit your yard this time of year. I love to find box turtles in my yard. Or sliders or even hognose snakes. I think it's fun.

Mikaela

Hognose snakes are the cool.

Rachel

Yeah, I love their little hognose in the spring. They are so cute. I love the way they kind of look like a cobra. And then when you get close, they say, oh, no, I'm dead.

Emily

To learn more about Hognose snakes, go back and listen to our episode in I think it was June of last year, where we had Carrie Wicks, formerly of the Department of Natural Resource. She has since moved on to bigger and better things, and we wish her well. Talking all about wildlife with us, which included snakes.

Rachel

Snakes, yeah. Such a great episode. Any hosy? All right. Box turtles mate from April to October, with nesting occurring from May to July, so they're out and about starting in April. A box turtle usually has one clutch per year. That's one egg laying session, and they usually have two to eight eggs in each clutch. And the turtles dig nest several inches below the soil and incubation lasts about three months. So if they're laying eggs in May, when can we expect those eggs to hatch?

Emily

Late August.

Rachel

Late August. And this is a really fun fact. The warmer nests tend to produce females, while cooler nests produce males.

Emily

That is a fun fact.

Rachel

Fun stuff.

Mikaela

Smart.

Rachel

So smart, these animals, I swear. So box turtles reach maturity at ten to 20 years old, and they can live to be over 100 years old. Box turtles are becoming scarce through Maryland because of road mortality and habitat destruction. So if you see one of these turtles on the road, please move it in the direction that it was crossing. Stop safely. Pick it up nicely. Don't pick it up by its tail or its feet and just move it to the side that it was going towards. And observe them, but leave them in the wild. Do not take them home with you. After 30 days of having them with you in your home or outside in your yard, if you have a little habitat, they cannot be set free. They cannot. They are solely dependent on you now. So please do not take them home for your kids to see. Just leave them in the wild.

Emily

If you're interested in having turtles with pets, I believe there is a turtle rescue up in Baltimore that you can, in fact, reach out to. And they have turtles that this has sort of happened to that are always looking for home.

Rachel

Yes, it is called Mid-Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Society. I was looking at it today and I actually asked my husband if we could adopt a turtle, and he told me no.

Emily

I think you need to focus on those hermit crabs first, Rachel.

Rachel

Or my Hercules beetles.

Mikaela

Yeah, you've got an influx of critters right now.

Rachel

Figure what's more, what's one more thing to the zoo?

Mikaela

Well, that's all we have for this episode, listener. We hope you enjoyed it, and we'll tune in next month for more garden tips. If you have any garden related questions, please email us at U-M-E Gardenpodcast@gmail.com or look us up on Facebook at gardenthymepodcast. That's garden. T-H-Y-M-E. Podcast. For more information about the University of Maryland Extension and these topics, please check out the University of Maryland Extension home and garden information center website at go.umd.edu/hgic. Thanks for listening and have fun getting down and dirty in your garden. Goodbye.

Rachel

The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by The University of Maryland Extension. Mikaela Boley, Senior Agent Associate for Talbot County, for Horticulture. Rachel Rhodes, Agent Associate for Horticulture in Queen Anne's County. And Emily Zobel, Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture in Dorchester County.

Emily

University of Maryland Extension programs are open to all and will not discriminate against anyone because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or nation of origin, marital status, genetic information, or political affiliation.