News

It is that time of year when plants are ravaged by the very damaging Japanese Beetles.  Please understand that the staff of St. Mary’s Cemetery is taking every measure possible to protect the flowers that you have placed for your loved ones.  We pretreated all of the geranium baskets purchased through the cemetery with a pesticide to try to get ahead of the beetles.  Once their eggs hatched, we retreated all of the flowers again with a pesticide to try to stop the beetle damage.  We have also installed Japanese Beetle traps, which fill up and are being emptied daily.

We understand your concern and frustration, as we feel the same.  We are trying to fight nature, and unfortunately, nature can be a very difficult opponent.  Not only do these beetles seek out flowers, but they are also known to feed off of certain trees and bushes.  Being a very large acreage of property with many varieties of flowers, trees, and grasses, we cannot treat every last inch of leaves and lawn.  Instead, we try to focus on the flowers that the beetles are drawn to.  However, when we do manage to trap/kill the beetles currently on the flowers, others can then come from the trees, grasses, and woods in which they were located prior.

The good news is that these beetles do not have extremely long lifespans and are typically here and gone within a month or so.  In the meantime, we will be pruning some of the damaged flowers and will continue to keep them watered weekly.  The geraniums purchased through the cemetery do have a long-lasting fertilizer in the soil, which will help regrowth following the departure of the beetles.  Many times, the plants will once again thrive when the beetles are no longer present.

Please be kind, and understand that we are doing everything within our control to diminish the damage that these beetle cause and we will continue to use every effort available to restart growth to the damaged plants.