Turf Scouting Report, April 15th

April 15, 2011 Scouting Report

April is Nice! More Flowers, New Leaves, Average Soil Temperatures Hit 50+, Rhizoctonia Yellow Patch, and Tim's Colorific Kentucky Bluegrass 

Chicago/Northern Illinois Update: Derek Settle - 
Flowers. This was a terrific week in your life, especially if you have horticulture in your blood. I grew up learning the art of growing plants from an Iowa farm girl. It turned out I knew a little Latin before I was told it wasn't a real 'living language'. Hah! This week turf greenup continued its good pace across the landscape. Golf courses in Chicago and Northern Illinois look terrific with few issues reported. Another nice warm week during April has meant good things for more than just monocots (grasses). Increasingly, we've begun to see some nice flowers. For example, star magnolia is now with creamy white flowers, one of the first to deliver a potent fragrence. Another woody ornamental with a medium yellow flower appeared this week - Corneliancherry dogwood or Cornus mas. Golf continued its return as well, just ask Sunshine. 

It is the best spring I have experienced in 5 years - turf healthwise. We still face the risk of a late hard freeze and to remind us of that, Mother Nature turned off our tap of warm air this weekend. In the meantime we can enjoy spring's progress up to now. Yellow flowers anyone? DMS 

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Have a good weekend, enjoy spring, and stay warm!?!