Melons, cucumbers, peaches, apples and most fruits require insects for pollination to stimulate fruit production. European honey bees often get credit for this work.

His daughter directed “The Watchers,” a frustrating film we saw earlier this summer. So now M. Night Shyamalan, who produced that movie, has a new feature of his own out, “Trap.” Shyamalan fans turned out in large numbers to see the movie its first weekend.

Do you like people and plants? You should say yes! Then being a Master Gardener is for you.

Here’s the biggest upset of the cinematic year: the latest “Deadpool” movie isn’t much fun to watch. “Deadpool and Wolverine,” starring Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and a speaking cast of perhaps 100, has some jokes that work. But its main business is to satirize the super hero movie “multiv…

Hollywood hasn’t offered us very many new “romantic comedies” recently. There is a new one showing at the local 13-plex, director Greg Berlanti’s “Fly Me to the Moon.” We think it qualifies as a rom com. The movie does have a man and woman attracted to each other. Is it a problem that there …

Local fairs are in full swing right now. The Riley County fair is Thursday, July 25 through Monday, July 29. Open class events are open to anyone in Riley County and adjoining counties.

Eddy Green, the performer for the July 12 show at Manhattan’s Arts in the Park, noticed that this year was the 39th of this free entertainment series. The band shell itself has hosted 20 years of shows. Readers may want to think back to favorite Arts in the Parks performances they’ve seen.

Watering is an important part of gardening. Plants will be healthy when sufficient water is available for them.

Several insects have taken up residency in the landscape. Their appearance causes stress to both the plants and the plant lovers. Most insects will not inflict too much plant damage. A combination of weather challenges, diseases, plant competition and insect feeding will reduce plant health.…

Kansas novelist Rex Stout had his character Nero Wolfe argue that there is a difference, in the arts, between imagination and invention. The new film “A Quiet Place: Day One” offers a chance for us to consider what he means.

My least favorite plant is poison ivy. When I was younger it didn’t bother me, but I lost my tolerance. Just looking at it causes a reaction. It takes some loose oil to cause the skin blisters and itches.

One would hate to think that the show in McCain Auditorium last Monday night was the last chance we’ll have to hear Buddy Guy. True, he was born in 1936. But he’s still energetic enough that he went out into the house, up the north aisle and into one of the rows, playing his guitar as he went.

Putting plants around the foundation of the home can dress up its looks. Planting shrubs, bushes and vines next to the house also creates dead air spaces that insulate your home in both winter and summer.

There’s something about the fourth “Bad Boys” movie, “Ride or Die,” that makes it seem fitting that the picture premiered in Dubai. Not much Miami Deco in the style of this Bruckheimer production. The ideal here is more Persian Gulf than Gulf of Mexico.

This is one of the best times of the gardening year here in Riley County.

The London production of “Roald Dahl’s Matilda, the Musical” is still running at the Cambridge Theater, 14 years after the play’s Royal Shakespeare Company try-out began in Stratford-on-Avon. And no wonder it still runs. This is a show that will appeal to anybody who crosses the threshold of…

Natural plant dyes and dyeing yarn is the topic of June’s Riley County, K-State Research and Extension Master Gardeners speaker series.

Is anything more cruel than dropping a new season of a show but only giving the first four episodes?

One of the functions of Salina’s Stiefel Theater series is to let Baby Boomers hear some of their old Rock Music heroes, albeit long after their hits were first played on the radio. Over the last few years area audiences have heard Roger Daltrey (from The Who), Roger McGuinn (from The Byrds)…

Annual flowers can provide stunning color in the landscape all growing season. No other group of plants can match their blooming ability. This is why we purchase and plant each spring.

George Miller’s “Mad Max” movies are always part Homer and part Jethro. This is especially true with the fifth and latest installment in the series, “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” And at 148 minutes (plus trailers), the movie just about has the bulk to qualify as a saga.

“The Garfield Movie” is about a fat orange cat who visually resembles the one in the comic strips printed in this newspaper. But it isn’t the same cat. The one in the animated film is an action hero. The one in the strip doesn’t like to move around much.

Before I get into the actual subject of this commentary, I’m going to repeat the advisory I opened with last May on returning from abroad: Be sure you take a smartphone with you along with the smarts to use it to the max. Yes, I know I’m addressing a small minority of readers. Nearly everyon…

An excellent limited series just concluded its run last weekend. While it might require a little maneuvering to get the right streaming options, it’s well worth the price and effort.

As the growing season progresses, the gardener needs to monitor their plants growth. The goal is to provide the basic items that the plant needs to remain healthy. Warmer temperatures are going to speed up plant growth. Adequate nitrogen will be required to support this increase growth.

While the construction going on around the local theater may make it look like a fortress, summer movie season is here, and there are plenty of reasons to head to the cinema in the next three months.

Every time we go to a pop music concert at K-State’s legendary McCain Auditorium, we see a different trick or two for managing audience reactions. With the Spinners performance last Tuesday, the strategy had to do with withholding familiar hits.

David Mackay directed the recent K-State Theater production of Shakespeare’s early “The Comedy of Errors.” Mackay and his cast of talented students gave the text the silly spin as it deserves.

Don’t expect the new film “Boy Kills World” to mean anything. It is one of a wave of fighting movies with producers trying to capitalize on what they think they’ve learned from the surprise popularity of the “John Wick” films. And that’s about all it is.

The next K-State Garden Hour Webinar Series is on Wednesday, May 1 beginning at noon. Nature rainfall has been limited thus far this season. Many gardeners need to supply supplemental irrigation for plant health. Register at the K-State Department of Horticulture and Natural Resources websit…

For years it seemed that a trip to London was sure to please theater fans. For years and years. The last three or four have made up the only bad stretch of West End theater some of us can remember experiencing. Last spring was particularly depressing; there were few offerings and what was ou…

On Friday evening the Kansas State University Library Chamber Music Series hosted a recital by Sorores Duo (Amy Rosine, soprano, and Sandra Mosteller, clarinet and bass clarinet) and Richard Fountain, piano, for an appreciative Hemisphere Room audience.

Last Tuesday’s performance by Momix, the dance and illusion company, was one of the two or three highlights of this year’s McCain Auditorium Performance Series.

K-State’s Dance program presents two formal recitals each year. The one in the fall semester is held in the fairly intimate Chapman (née Nichols) Theater, on the thrust stage. We saw the spring one this last weekend.

It is time to start tomatoes indoors if you want to start them from seed. I will have a program on Saturday, March 23 beginning at 10 a.m. on this topic. The program is in Pottorf Hall at the fairgrounds, 1710 Avery Ave. in Manhattan. It is free and will last about an hour.

One comes away from a showing of “Dune 2” not unhappy. It tells a rigorously classic story. It has scope and imagery. Some of the action sequences are enjoyable. Director Denis Villeneuve has also done a much better job of telling a story than he did in “Dune,” his 2021 movie, the third base…

Annual grassy weeds like crabgrass and foxtail will appear every year. They need sunlight and warm soil temperatures to do their thing. Prevention is the best strategy. Strong and vigorous grass and other plants will outgrow weeds.

The recent production by K-State’s School of Music, Theater, and Dance of “Amelia Goes to the Ball” was delightful. The 70-minute opera is by Gian Carlo Menotti, an Italian-American, 20th century composer and the founder of the Spoletto Festival.

Manhattanites are unlikely to be surprised that the new Manhattan High musical was laudable. So what else is new? Well, the recent staging of “Mamma Mia!” the world’s most popular jukebox musical, was new in more ways than one.

The potato is commonly planted around St. Patrick’s Day. Typically, the soil temperature is ready to plant potatoes and other early spring crops like peas then. Current soil temperatures are sufficient for planting. Early plantings result in higher yields than late planting. Top growth from …