Jennifer Ferguson, with the shrubbery specialist, spoke today on Volutella Blight. Volutella Blight is a fungus that appears as small tan spots on leaves, which enlarge into blotches. It has affected most of the ornamental landscape throughout the area.

Boxwoods sustained the most damage due to the freezing weather from the past two years. A common sign of Volutella some may have noticed was a straw-colored dieback in your plant material. To treat the infected plant, you will want to prune the dieback and treat it with a copper-based fungicide between your cuttings and pruning.

Unfortunately, Volutella cannot be eradicated, but you can control it by sanitizing your tools with alcohol between trimming your plants. Consistently using this method should lead to an improvement in your landscaping.