Iochroma cyaneum with Dahlia Mystic Enchantment.

Thanks L.

I rubbed my finger on the white spots and they didn't show disturbance. Which led be to believe it was bark color and not something growing on the surface.

But looking at the cracks in the bark in the second picture, they appear to continue through the white spots, not under them. Then to, there appears to be a little white 'fuzz' along the edges of those cracks, that would point to something like mold on the surface, that has dried and then 'shredded' as the trunk bark enlarges, causing cracks to appear.

We did have some very 'hot for us' weather with rain and high humidity this summer, so possibly some sort of mold blotches that formed on the surface of the bark?

I'm not sure but the tree appears healthy, so I won't be too concerned unless something more develops. 😉

I shouldn't even mess with AI but that's all they offer now with google searches. I'm always suspicious of it to start with, it's wrong so many times. 😖

"but that's all they offer now with google searches"

This is not what I'm seeing on Google. Yes, AI is at the top, but if you scroll down below the 'show more' flag you will find old school searches.

indianagardengirl - looks like you've got a trio of southern migrants there - Red Admiral? (lower left), Variegated Fritillary (top middle), and Common Buckeye (lower right) - none of these three survive our northern winters. In my area, Red Admiral and Common Buckeye numbers were down last year, but they seem to be rebounding this year. I didn't see any Buckeyes here last year, but so far this year I've seen at least 3, including this one just today (8/23/26) on Coreopsis Star Cluster:

There was also a female and male Peck's Skipper on the Coreopsis:

... and a Bee Fly:

A female Zabulon Skipper on tall verbena by the driveway:

There was a male leafcutter bee on Little Joe (joe pye weed) today:

Wow, that was fast.

I just looked a few hours ago and its antenna were deflated and hanging straight down.

Just to give you an idea, it was like finding a 'needle in a haystack'.

tj

Unlikely to be a fungus.....much more likely to be an insect pest, like scale. Scale is very common on euonymus. I will be the first to tell you NOT to treat it but to remove ALL the burning bushes you have. They are a highly invasive species and there are so many better shrubs you can replace them with.

Ala mode

Lavender Perfection

tj

I fell for a mandevilla also this year. This called to me the second I saw it. Since I was putting in a Reminescent Coral rose I thought this tied right in. We has a really cool half of June and it took a while to really take off. It was 49 degrees last night so who knows how long it'll last but it's really pretty.

Just to add, A. tabernaemontana cultivars can handle periodic flooding as long as it drains quickly. A. hubrechtii requires dryer soil.

I do sell eggs to the B&B across the road, about 10 dozen a week, and make just about enough money to pay for the chicken feed. I have sold excess garden vegetables and made a few dollars but mostly I just give it away. If no one wants it I take it to the local food pantry who is always glad to take my zucchini or tomatoes. They took the first bucket full of poblanos last year, but said no one would take them, LOL, so turned down more.

I grow most of my own garden seedlings and save my own seeds, so I grow 120 petunias for a neighbor, some specific heirloom tomato seedlings for the neighbors who own the B&B, and extra garlic for a retired Marine sergeant who lives down the street. They pay me for the seeds but since I already have lights and shelves and pots and it doesn't really cost me anything other than soil and seed, I'm good with that.

I do not ship anything and I don't charge for my time. I figure I'm doing something I like and just doing it a little extra is a double bonus for me. The Marine just brought me a half gallon of maple syrup he tapped and processed last winter in return for eggs and tomatoes. I think I got the better of that deal although no money changed hands.

Annie

On Metasequoia more lower branches seem to give a more aggressive, gnarly appearance to the trunk.

Prune it up a bit for a more formal Taxodium like look, or if u hate getting out the trimmer under the canopy.

Some concerns with the above suggestions should be noted: Thujas and evergreen euonymus varieties would likely be susceptible to deer browsing. Boxwood are risky now that boxwood blight and boxwood moth have arrived in Michigan. Japanese holly can suffer damage during severe winters. Not sure what your soil is like, but the soils here are generally higher in pH, making it challenging to grow Kalmia, rhododendrons, and azaleas. And Sarcococcas and Viburnum davidii aren't fully hardy here.

A dwarf Norway spruce might work if it's not too shady. And even though you said you're "not interested in yews", there is a yew relative with deer resistance that might fit your specs - Cephalotaxus harringtonia prostrata (although it may need some winter protection initially).

Indianagardengirl...yep, that's what my property looked like. I was in the heart of it last week, in east Central Indiana...one of the towns that was on the national news. We got 12+ inches of rain that day.

I do know that dentatum and nudum are more accepting of wetter soil. This location I'm talking about is a "winter wet" and "summer dry" location. West side of house with a slight slope towards the house...so it holds the snow melt and winter rains in that bed...but being on the west side it's blazing hot and dry in mid to late summer. A difficult spot to garden that's for sure.

I found a couple flowers that the budworms haven't eaten yet. : ) Now I just need a few dozen more of these.

More rain here, with another 2-3/8 inches last night. I will have to bail the grass, or else figure out how to mow in the soggy mess, lol. Grateful, though, to have rain for the plants and trees.

Looking like 3 more days in the triple digits and then we will FINALLY hopefully be in the 90's if not even lower from here on out!! Praise the Lord, after 42 days of 100+ this summer, we are all ready for some stinkin relief!

Edit: still around 0.3" of rain since the end of July when we got around an inch. Less than 1.5" since the middle of July. Everything is fried and the ground is cracked and crusty.

The recent US drought monitor shows the droughts are scattered but bad along the Arkansas River.