Dellwood Nature Notes – July 2025

Dellwood Nature Notes

By Lisa Cortes
Minnesota Master Naturalist
Dellwood City Naturalist

July in Dellwood brings warm, sunny days and the vibrant sounds of summer. Listen for low buzzing of bumble-bees as they forage for pollen and the hum of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds as they sip nectar from tubular flowers. In the heat of the day, you can hear the high-pitched whine of male dogday cicadas as they contract and relax organs called tymbals, on their abdomen to attract females. Baby animals are now maturing. Look for young red squirrels cavorting in the oaks and pines and young deer moving through the woods with their mothers.

Bumble-bee on Bergamot	Ruby-throated Hummingbird	Dogday Cicada	New antlers

Garden Tips

Keep your garden and yard healthy by using homemade remedies to combat disease. Have you ever noticed white spots and brown leaves on your lilac or garden vegetable leaves? The culprit is most likely powdery mildew which is a fungus that thrives in hot, humid weather. Fortunately there are simple, inexpensive ways to rid your flowering bushes and plants of this unsightly disease.

1. Milk: Mix one part milk to 3 or 4 parts water and spray. The natural compounds in milk not only prevent, but help cure powdery mildew.
2. Baking soda solution: Mix 1 tablespoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon liquid soap (not detergent) in 1 gallon of water and spray. This helps prevent powdery mildew and may help rid existing disease.

Powdery mildew on lilac leaves	& in the vegetable garden	Spraying with milk	or baking soda

Kid’s Corner

Why do trees have bark?

Bark is the tree’s skin. It protects the tree from drying out and from attacks from fungi and animals. There are two layers of bark- an inner layer and an outer layer. The outer layer, the one you can see and touch, is no longer living.

Did you know that you can tell trees apart by their bark? Young trees have smooth bark, while old trees have rough bark.

Take a white sheet of paper and a few peeled crayons to an old tree. Put the paper against the tree and rub it with the side of the crayon. What do you see? Write the name of the tree. Now find different trees and do the same thing. What did you notice? How is their bark different?