hey red ...

when i quit growing hybrid T roses.. i put away all the chemicals.. and remedies..

its a garden .... its nature.. the bugs can have what they want.. and if they kill it.. so be it.. i am not buying another ...

i really dont understand.. on some level.. why peeps are so adverse .. to the diversity of nature.. when it come to a few bugs ...

that said.. if something like scale attacks a conifer i paid $100 for.. well take cover.. its time for war.. lol ..

ken

ps: part of this zen attitude came with moving to 5 acres.. i still walk about and enjoy my plants.. but i am not 'up close and personal' .. like i used to be in suburbia in a small garden ... i used to run to the garage at any sign of anything .... and you know.. when it all boils down ... there simply are not that many plagues.. that require action on our part ... let me be clear.. and yell ... SO WHAT IF YOUR Heliopsis HAS APHIDS ... is someone going to stand in the street and point at your house????? will the aphid police be breaking down your door in the dead of the night ... ha!

columbine and leafminer...

WHO THE HECK CARES ...

in my variegated world.. it makes an otherwise green plant.. variegated.. lol ...

i will think of more..

ken

ps: and how come they never decimate the weeds .. whats that all about.. lol ..

The red aphids show up on my heliopsis maybe once out of every five years and then a couple good sprays with the hose usually takes care of them.
Columbine, I yanked the last of them last year, not because of leaf miners, they don't bother me, but the last 3 years columbine sawfly have literally eaten every leaf , leaving sticks in the garden. I guess at the moment the only one I can think of that really gets hit with aphids is asclepius incarnata, swamp milkweed.The aphids are annoying but I mainly plant them for the monarchs, so they'll stay.

Can't say enough good things about "Summer Nights" heliopsis. They're tall (4') red stem, two tone flowers, bloom till frost, reseed in a nice way. I imagine "Praire Sunset" is very similar. Aphids didn't seem to harm them. I was doing chemicals but "dummy" didn't think of the water treatment - too obvious.

On another note, I'm going to try Hibiscus "Midnight Marvel", fronted by some "French Lace" Weigela with the helio. That should be a "interesting".

That old Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times"

The beautiful roses consumed by japanese beetles during July and August. Oh so gorgeous in spring and fall.

I really haven't had much of a pest problem over the years except for the red aphid thing on the heliopsis. I eventually just got rid of the plants because it bugged me so much and I was too lazy to do anything about it. However, I did order one plant this year - don't recall which one at the moment - and I'm going to try it in a new location which isn't as hot and dry as the previous one.

The Japanese Beetle problem is a relatively new one for me and so far they only go after the roses which is OK since roses aren't my favs anyway and the few plants I have would be too much work to remove. As mentioned they only seem to be a problem in mid summer, so I can still enjoy the early and late flowers.

I almost forgot. Every year I do have this very strange looking, black larva-like critter on 1 variety of goldenrod. If I don't spray, they strip the plant bare in a couple of weeks and foliage remains almost non-existent the rest of the summer. I ignored it the first few years, but do spray now when I first see them. It's worth the effort. And no, they aren't caterpillars of some wonderful butterfly, they are more like a shell-less, black beetle and only come out at night to feed. Now that I think about it, they kind of look like black lady beetle larva, but aren't lady beetle larva meat eaters?

Kevin

'Great' picture Patty....I do sympathize as I experienced similarly last season. You know you are into gardening when you take pleasure in squishing those bugs with your fingers!

i have a non-descript tree out back.. with deep furrowed bark.. of which.. for the life of me.. i cant remember right now.. of course .. all it takes is typing the prior ..... hackberry .. lol...

its island chlorosis virus is so cool ...and one link said its benign ... see link

a variegated tree i didnt have to pay $100 for ..... score!

someone once told me.. that MANY variegated plants.. coming from a green plant.. have virus ... anyone want to confirm.. or try to change that brain cell ..??? [and i am not discussing genetics and seed growing] ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: you would think they could come up with a better name for the gall ... lol

Ken, Wiki has an excellent primer on variegation.

Bugs arn't a huge issue for me. Some trees here need chemicals to get rid of them (especially in bad years), but for the most part I don't worry about them on plants.

Disease is my worst enemy. Maybe it is the climate- seems ever couple years some plant is "comming down" with some weird-as* disease I have to figure out. Virticillium wilt on Aconitum and what I am almost certain was an unusual case of anthracnose on a Eupatorum/Conoclinium were my latest. I really liked both them, but there isn't any sence in keeping an infected plant around that is likely to spread it to othes ;-P

I usually give a plant a second season to see if it was "faking" illness or if it is something real before chucking it out.
CMK