Hartzler

Unwanted and invasive plants are threats to gardens and landscapes as well as agricultural fields and natural areas.

The Marshalltown Garden Club announces that Bob Hartzler will take the podium as guest speaker at the upcoming meeting at 1 p.m. on June 5 to identify some of these persistent invaders and offer advice about how to keep them under control.

“It takes more than herbicides to keep a good weed down,” Hartzler said.

Hartzler is a Weed Science professor at Iowa State University. A native of Indiana, he began working for ISU Extension in 1982 while pursuing a Ph.D. Upon completion, he went to Penn State for a few years but returned to ISU in 1989.

His primary responsibility is weed control in agronomic crops, but he does teach two weed classes. Hartzler’s current research project focuses on enhancing the Iowa landscape for Monarch butterflies and minimizing the impact of Palmer amaranth, which was introduced in the state in 2016.

Marshalltown Garden Club meetings take place in the auditorium of the Fisher Community

Center. Programs are always free and open to the public. As usual, the club meeting starts with potluck lunch at 11:30 a.m., business meeting at 12:30 p.m. and program at 1 p.m.