All posts by jane

Exhibitionists in the Garden!

pest control,

Oi with the bugs! This year I’m having a heck of a time with insects. I am aware I should take care not to harm helpful insects, but whoever chews through the plant leaves and lays eggs in the budding flowers are not considered good guys. Maybe this year I am more aware of them.

Anyway, I was admiring the hollyhocks a few days ago. They are about five feet high and ready to tilt their heads up to the sun. Then I did a double-take. What are those bugs and WHAT exactly are they doing on the hollyhocks?!  It was a regular love fest, sans the tie-die and purple haze.
These very amorous bugs looked as if they were the insect equivalent of an anteater. They are gray, beetle-like and have a very long snout. After googling around the interwebs and finding the What’s that bug? site, I found out what they are… hollyhock weevils. The female bores into the flowerhead with that huge snout to deposit her future brood in there. Argh!
Since I have four-legged garden foremen, I’d like to take care of these nasty creatures without the use of hardcore chemicals. Any suggestions?

Bites & Blemishes

disease, pest control, , , , , , , , ,

One thing I’ve found very annoying about gardening is the fact that plants get sick. I know, there is no such thing as easy, non-maintenance gardening. I am also willing to work for beautiful plants. But, it doesn’t change the fact I fret and even get grumpy about plants being chomped on or made ill.

Both the catnip and the foxglove are showing such signs. I snapped pictures so I can try to puzzle out what’s going on with them once I was back to the computer. With the catnip, I’m thinking a combo of the wet spring and dense foliage is causing a type of mildew/blemishes on the leaves. I don’t know yet what is stressing the foxglove. At first I thought it may be some frost damage from a cold snap we had after the plant had sent out it’s first new shoots. Now I think it’s some kind of insect. Will have to research it more.
Edelweiss are budding in the back bed and yellow day lilies are going to open any day in the sidewalk bed. The forget-me-not seedlings are well on their way in Loki’s bed and the moonflower seedlings and new black barlow columbine in the gate bed are growing well. The rose bush in the southwest bed bloomed! The flowers are a very pale pink that turn almost to white after opening.
Also, this week I brought home some different types of ground cover from a co-worker’s garden. Our lot now has some vinca, chameleon plant and bishop’s weed.

Fieldtrip : John Ball Park

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My Better Half and I took a stroll this evening through John Ball Park. I believe volunteers from MSU’s master gardener program care for the landscaped sections of the park. As a result, it’s always a lovely place to visit with it’s very own rose garden.

As mentioned before, I do not know much about the care of roses. That’ll have to change because boy, oh boy, are some of those plants pretty. I snapped photos of the different roses in the park so I can identify them at a later date. Maybe, once educated a bit more in their care, I will purchase some for our lot.
There are also some nice “berms,” simple, circular beds whose soil is slightly raised above ground level, at the park. In one of the free gardening seminars I attended, the presenter spoke of how to construct them. I may reserve the idea of a raised bed just for a little vegetable patch. To create changes in elevation on our lot (which is very much needed), I could give a few berms a try.
Other things blooming on the lot: peonies in the sidewalk bed (pink with frills), little red roses in the front bed, the coral bells in Loki’s bed,  nasturtium, Jupiter’s beard, foxglove and rose campion in the back bed, the nicotiana in the fence bed, and the spiderwort and bachelors button in the alleybed. The lavender and hollyhock both are budding.