Spots, Spots, Spots

   I estimate we had around a billion inches of rain this spring and early summer.  For the rest of the summer I think we had an average amount of rain, but the high heat and humidity, so high at times I felt I was starting to grow gills, continued on and on so things never really dried out. I did water the garden a few times, but it turned out it wasn’t necessary because the rains usually came the next day.  Because of that, I have seen more spots, spots, spots on my perennials this summer than I have ever, ever, ever before.

(Just to let you know, I’m not complaining about the rain. I love rain and I am thankful for it. Our water comes from a well and I always feel good when we have lots of rain in the spring. I don’t live by a river or lake, so we haven’t been affected by flooding. I feel very badly for those who have had to leave their homes or for those who had their crops under water or for those who weren’t able to put in their crops. It was a tough spring for many.)

Here are a few of the spots that I have found:

Leaf spot on iris

 

 (I just have to show you this picture below – I was looking for a professional -scientific – text book example of a picture of leaf spot on iris. I checked a certain university’s website, knowing of the plant research that is done at that university, and found this picture.)

 

Professionally drawn by a university plant researcher

(I get a good chuckle out of this drawing everytime I look at it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.)

I believe this is anthracnose on hollyhock.

  

I believe this is powdery mildew on helianthus or perennial sunflower.

 

This spot is a mystery on candytuft

The dark spots on the above candytuft appeared one morning – I honestly thought at first glance it was flicked on ink, until I quickly realized it was all over the plant. I’ve searched the internet  for a similar picture to help identify it, but I couldn’t find anything. It appears to me more of a bacteria than fungus, but I really don’t know. There are many mysteries found in a garden. I’ll keep trying to find out what it is. One thing I can do is mail it to a research university and see if they will ID it. (Maybe they’ll draw a picture of it and post it on their website.)

 

 THERE ARE VOLUMES written on spots in the garden; there is on-going research in the field of plant pathology; there are experts who could tell you FAR more than I ever could.

 

There are, however, some BASIC CULTURAL PRACTICES to help REDUCE the amount of INFECTION in your garden – I say INFECTION AS MOST SPOTS ARE CAUSED BY THE ARRIVAL OF FUNGUS, BACTERIA, OR VIRUSES.

(Some spots are caused by mechanical (physical) means.)   

  

•  When CHOOSING plants, see if you can find plants that have certain fungus, bacteria, or virus RESISTANCE. You may have to do some research ahead of time.  Always LOOK FOR PLANTS THAT ARE STRONG, FULL, HEALTHY LOOKING WITH GOOD COLOR. If there are brown or spotted leaves, don’t buy them. If you get home and find there are some diseased looking leaves that were hiding under the healthy, remove them before planting.

• Use plenty of MULCH around your plants. Fungus and bacteria can overwinter in soil. To prevent it from splashing up onto your plant when watering or when raining, put a nice thick layer of mulch around your plants, at least an inch if possible.  I didn’t get my whole garden done this past summer and with all the rains, I really noticed the disease difference from where I mulched and where I didn’t.

•  WATER AT THE BASE OF THE PLANT. If overhead watering, do it in the morning so plants have a chance to dry off before the cooler and more humid evening temperatures.

 

• DON’T CROWD the plants. There needs to be plenty of air circulation between plants. Use a good, well balanced fertilizer, such as a 10-10-10. Don’t go heavy on the nitrogen, as it will promote vegetative growth, which will decrease air circulation.  

• Probably the best thing is to GET RID OF INFECTED PLANT MATERIAL. I pull off infected leaves and stems throughout the season and get rid of them. Be careful not to touch uninfected parts of plants with your hands that are now probably carrying some of those putrid little fungal spores or bacterium. DON’T PUT INFECTED PLANT MATERIAL IN THE COMPOST PILE!!! THE FUNGUS AND BACTERIA COULD POSSIBLY THRIVE IN THAT SETTING, OVERWINTER, AND BE SPREAD ONTO YOUR GARDEN NEXT YEAR!!! INSTEAD, GET RID OF THEM SO YOU DON’T EVER SEE THEM AGAIN. The same in the fall, clean up all infected plant material and get rid of it!

 

• If you are working with infected annuals, don’t plant that type of annual in the same spot next year, ROTATE where you place the plants. If you are dealing with perennials, which you don’t want to move around every year, just BE FAITHFUL TO PRACTICE THE ABOVE LISTED PLANT HYGIENE.

No garden is perfect – remember that. Next year is another year – remember that. You garden because you love it – remember that….

 

Red Aphids!

This is the third year that I am dealing with red aphids on my perennial sunflower plants. (genus -Helianthus)

 I don’t know why, I never had them before… I only know now that I have them,  I don’t want them no more.  (Sorry, it just came to me. Sing it along with me, if you like.)

Aphids have piercing sucking mouthparts and cause tender young leaves to curl and yellow, thus reducing plant vigor and growth. The little creeps also secrete what is called a “honeydew” like substance which is sticky and attracts ants and can cause sooty mold growth on the plants. It’s not attractive.

 

You usually find them on the underside and along the stems of the tender new growth of the plant.

This is a little out of focus, but it gives you a pretty good image of what they look like. Not that you really want to know. On their rear end, they have two pointy things. These are called cornicles and no other insect has them. The honeydew is secreted from the cornicles. Now you really know more than you probably wanted to know.

There are five ways of getting rid of, or more realistically, reducing red aphids, that I know of.  Well, I just thought of another one, but it requires squishing them with your fingers and watching your fingers turn all red from their juices…takes too long, anyway.

1. Let nature take its course and hopefully you have enough natural predators that will take care of them, such as lady bugs and lace wings. If it looks like a losing battle go to number 2.
2. Put a sprayer attachment on the end of your hose and give them a good pressure wash. You can knock many of them off, watch them go hurling off into the air, and I’ve heard they can drown in the water/mud at the base of the plant. I’ve done this, but usually they returned within a day or two. I guess if I repeatedly did this, it could work. Consider number 3.
3. Early in the season, usually before the flower buds can be seen – at least this is when I like to do it – I cut off the tender tops that are being infested. Here are some pictures.
   

   Cut off the infested tender shoot.

Toss it into some sort of old, recycled plastic bag.

Throw in as many as you want or as many as will fit.

Seal up the bag and get rid of it far away from your garden. You can stomp on it first or squish it up with your hands, if you're that kind of person, but then get rid of it. Just don't throw it in your neighbor's yard. That's not nice.

This methods works pretty well, and I use it early in the season so the plants still have plenty of time to set new flower buds. If the aphids return, here is number four.

4.  Soap. You can use insecticidal soap. I don’t. I’m not saying it’s bad or it doesn’t work, I’m just saying I use the natural dish soap we use on our dishes, and it works, so I’m not going out to buy the insecticidal soap. Now, I have read you can use dish soap but not dish detergent, and I have read you can use either. What is the difference? I looked it up for you because I wasn’t sure. I found out that soap is made from natural ingredients such as vegetable oil or animal fat. Detergents are made from petroleum products.  So, I’m going with the soap.

My two weapons of mass aphid destruction.

 O.K., as I was looking at my bottle of “soap” I found that the word “soap” was no where to be found. It is called “natural dish liquid”. Hmmmm, I wonder if you have to have a certain ingredient or there has to be a certain way of processing something  before you can legally name something “soap”.  This “natural dish liquid,” however, is made of plant derived cleaning agents, and I know from past experience that it has been safe on my plants with this ratio of water/”soap” – 1 tsp. of “soap” per cup of water. So, with my 32 oz.  spray bottle, I put in 4 tsp. (or 1 T. and 1 tsp.) of “soap” and filled the rest with water.

Aim and shoot. You probably will have to lift up leaves.

 

Really soak them down - get them all frothy and soapy.

O.K., so I did kind of feel badly about doing this to the aphids. Aphids are small and soft-bodied, so the soap works on disrupting their cell membranes and causes dehydration. It’s a quick death, however, from my observations.  Fortunately, this soaping down doesn’t work well on all insects including lady bugs, lace wings, or bees. (I feed the lady bugs that I find in my kitchen during the winter – did you know they love a fresh slice of apple?) I have seen this soap method work well, especially if it is applied each time you see the red devils increasing once again in population. (Did you know aphids are born already pregnant with the next generation? It’s true, I’m not making that up.)

5. The last way of getting rid of or reducing the red aphid is through some type of chemical insecticide.  As mentioned already, aphids have piercing sucking mouth parts vs. chewing mouth parts. One type of insecticide that can be used is a systemic insecticide that is taken in by the plant and then is sucked out with the plant juices by the aphid. You can apply the systemic insecticide to the soil at the base of the plant. I don’t use chemical insecticides, so I’m no longer up on what is recommended. Go to a  good garden center and ask questions about them or read labels carefully  if you think you want to use them.

Well, I hope you do well with reducing the red aphid in your garden. By the way, aphids come in all sorts of colors, are found on all sorts of plants. Wooly aphids are the most weird – they look like somebody put a glob of marshmallow cream on their body and then pulled it out into strands. Start looking and most likely you will find an aphid somewhere in your yard. Not all are going to warrant reduction. Insect populations also cycle, meaning you might have a heavy population of one kind for a couple of years and then you won’t see them around for awhile, and then they will cycle back again. So, don’t despair. Overall, I think we can live pretty happily side by side. As long as it’s not in my garden.

Blooms So Far This Spring and Heading into Summer…

Here are a few of my flowering  plants. I thought you might enjoy these and be inspired!

Candytuft (Iberis)

Candytuft (Iberis)

Cushion Spurge (Euphorbia)

Cushion Spurge (Euphorbia)

Lupines (Lupinus)

Lupines and Iris

Candytuft, Iris, Perennial Geranium, Lambs Ear

  These are just a few – I’ll post more soon! Thanks for visiting!

 

 

Beware of What You are Buying at Local Plant Sales!

My sister and I sometimes swap plants. She’ll dig up and divide a few of hers to give to me, I’ll do likewise. Two years ago while at a neighborhood plant sale, she picked up several black-eyed Susan’s, or so she was told… She gave one to me because she’s a good sister and because she knew I was interested in getting a black-eyed Susan.

I happily planted my black-eyed Susan, or so I thought was a black-eyed Susan, for the foliage did resemble that of a daisy-type plant, and I waited for it to grow and maybe even bloom that summer.

Well, it grew and it grew and it grew until it was as tall as me! When it finally bloomed and the flowers did not have a “black eye”, I searched the flower books and came up pretty certain that I was growing a Jerusalem artichoke, no relation to the artichoke family, instead a member of the sunflower family, Helianthus tuberosus.

  I thought it was kind of interesting, because of its height and flowers, so in the fall I cut it down, but left it in the garden. The following spring I had many plants, seedlings growing everywhere. I pulled them out and left a few to grow. By the fall, however, I was determined I would not let this plant grow in my perennial garden the following spring, which would be this spring. It’s height had ceased to be of interest, in fact the tall plants easily toppled in the wind, and it looked out of place with the rest of the more cultivated, refined perennials. It was a bumpkin that belonged out in the pumpkin patch.

 I have found this spring, however, that this plant species has a built in guarantee that it will survive for all eternity wherever it wants to be because of its ability to propagate and proliferate its seeds in great numbers at great distances. I have been digging up these little buttheads all May and now into June. It seems every few days they are back in numbers.

These tubers are what lead me to think the plant could be a Jerusalem Artichoke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are popping up all over the garden.

They crowd into the other plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              So, the moral of the story? Just be careful whom you trust when it comes to buying plants. My sister trusted the neighbor who told her it was a black-eye Susan. I trusted my sister. Just yesterday I found one of “them” lurking among the monarda (bee balm). Three others hiding behind the iris.  Another cluster was trying to push around a group of tender lilies. They are going to be the bane of my existence all summer! Beware of what you buy!!!!!

 

Guess the Number of Plants!

Welcome!
Thank you for visiting my blog! Before you get too far along with reading this, please take some time to read about who I am. Just click on that there “About Me” tab. You’ll find out all about me and it will help you to understand that this blog is about simple or relaxed gardening. I love gardening, lots of things come up daily, and the best part is that we are outside, in the fresh air, among so much beauty.
OK, I’ve posted a picture of my perennial garden as it looked in April and I’m going to have you guess how many different plants are grown in this garden. Ready, here is the picture.

OK, here’s another picture -

Here’s my gardening buddy. She’s sensitive about her weight. Don’t say anything. The vet says she has no self-regulation.

Pippa

Have you made your guesses?
I have 43 different Genus species! Can you believe that? Plus I probably have several cultivars of a particular Genus species. I won’t bore you with my plant list, but I’ll give you some examples to help you to understand what I mean about Genus species and cultivars. I’ll keep it simple because that’s how I think.

A Genus species is say, Heuchera sanguinea, otherwise commonly known as coral bells or alumroot. (HOO ker a).  I have three different “cultivars” (cultivated varieties) of this Genus species, one being “marmalade”. I would tell you the names of my other two, but I don’t know. I didn’t keep the stick you find in the pot, and I’ve had them for around ten years, at least. They are the old stand-by heucheras.  So when I say I have 43 Genus species in my garden, one of those Genus species is actually represented by 3 different plants!

"Marmalade"

 Ok, I turned around to go take a couple of pictures of the other two heuchera cultivars, and it’s almost dark outside. Where did the evening go to? So tomorrow I will post a couple more examples.

 Why am I telling you all this? Because you can grow an amazing amount of variety in a relatively small garden area. You can do incredible things within a limited amount of soil that you will find you can manage and enjoy! You don’t have to be a garden expert, a landscape gardener, an owner of many acres of land, or have lots of extra cash hanging around waiting to be spent!

Did I mention that I’m also a cheap gardener? I should have mentioned that at the start because if I was reading this blog for the first time, cheap gardening would have been my draw! So, there you go. You can do it and I will help you! Now, here’s a picture or two of what the gardens are looking like – these were taken on Saturday; I swear they are even fuller and bigger today. Well, we’ve had a hundred billion inches of rain so far this month, that helps a lot to keep them a growing as fast as they can!

Garden as of May 28

Garden as of May 28

My gardening buddy as of May 28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come and visit me again tomorrow! We have so many things to talk about!