Leafhopper

Every year about this time, customers start bringing in photos of this strange white, fluffy substance on the stems of their shrubs and perennials. I myself have it on the stems of my Rose of Sharon. What on earth can it be? Well, it is not a fungus, as some have suggested. It looks fuzzy, so could it be a mealy bug? Nope. It is an evasive little insect called a leafhopper. I say evasive because if you’ve ever seen one on a stem, as soon as you get close [...]