Here in southwest Ohio, there are many threats to our forests. Imported pests such as the Emerald Ash Borer and the Asian Longhorn Beetle are on track to economically impact Ohio to the tune of billions of dollars. This doesn’t even take into account the tremendous void the loss of millions of trees will leave in an already fragile ecosystem.

Five Rivers MetroPark is offering a way to preserve our natural heritage in their “‘Leaf’ a Legacy” reforestation effort. They can’t do it alone and are asking for help with restoring our forests in the Dayton area. Since last year,  many tree mommas and daddies were caring for tree seedlings. Now it is time to get about 10,000 tree seedlings planted. There are several Seedling Saturday dates (times are 9 am – noon): Saturday,  March 17 (at both Carriage Hill & Germantown), Saturday, March 24 (Carriage Hill & Sugarcreek), Saturday, March 31 (Germantown & Weslyan).

Additional Seedling Planting dates (times are 1- 4 pm): Monday, March 12 (Carriage Hill), Sunday, March 18 (Carriage Hill ), and Monday, March 26 (Germantown) RSVP directly to yvonne.dunphe@metroparks.org for the chosen dates and indicate the location. You will receive a confirmation email with more specifics.

Did you know? The freshwater mussel has a very unique life cycle. Unlike oysters and clams, their life cycle includes a short parasitic stage attached to the fins or gills of a host fish. After the eggs are fertilized by a male, the  larvae (called glochidia) develop a while in the gills of the female mussel and are later expelled. The floating glochidia attach to the gills or the fins of a host fish where they develop 1-4 weeks before dropping off and settling in the stream bed to mature. Mussels have great value as an indicator of a biome’s health and play an important part of the natural purification process. I knew that mussels were different – I just never knew that they had such an unusual life cycle!

Hosta Society Meeting

The Miami Valley Hosta Society’s meeting Tuesday, March 13 will feature speaker Chris Wilhoit who will speak on Arisaema (Jack-In-The-Pulpit) and offer an unusual plant buying opportunity. The meeting is at 7 pm, at the Cox Arboretum, on St. Rt. 741 north of the Dayton Mall area.