What’s Bugging Your Garden? Sustainable Solutions for Troublesome Pests

Losing sleep over the red beetles that are ravaging your lilies? Bothered by the hibiscus sawfly? Seen signs of the black vine weevil, boxwood leaf miner or Japanese beetle? Perhaps your concerns are of the legless, wingless type: powdery mildew or black spot disease.

Worry no more. Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, in her talk Thursday, May 17, to the Connecticut Horticultural Society, will arm you with the latest information about organic and alternative controls for insects and diseases that commonly plague ornamental and edible gardens. The talk begins at 7:30 p.m. at Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford, and is open to the public.

DuBrule-Clement is the owner of Natureworks specialty organic garden center in Northford. A past president of the Connecticut chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, she has dedicated her career to researching and practicing the best ways to grow a healthy garden and create and maintain a balanced ecosystem.

She graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in floriculture in 1976, and then held a variety of gardening and landscaping positions. In 1983, she opened Natureworks in an abandoned gas station. It moved to its current location in 1990 and employs more than 25 people during the growing season.

In 2011 and 2012, the business was named a “revolutionary garden center” by Today’s Garden Center magazine, mainly because it has been practicing and teaching organic gardening for 28 years.

DuBrule-Clemente has written and self-published “Succession of Bloom in the Perennial Garden” (2004) and coauthored with Marny Smith “A Country Garden for Your Backyard” (Rodale Press, 1992).

Through her publications and classes, she continually shares useful information, timely garden talk and the excitement and wonder of gardening as she encourages gardeners to “dig a little deeper into the complex web of life we are all a part of to better understand how to create a healthy ecosystem in your yard.”

Everyone is invited to the CHS meeting, Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford, 7:30 p.m. Fee: $10 (free for CHS members and students). Visit www.cthort.org or call 860-529-8713.

The Connecticut Horticultural Sociey is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the appreciation of horticulture and gardening.