WALATing in search of aphids late this afternoon :-(

14 years ago

A neighbour who wanted cuttings from my Hot Cocoa rose informed me that, unfortunately, it has aphids. I don't spray roses - they have to live or die on their own... But I thought I should check out the situation. So far it looks like New Dawn on the swag isn't in too bad a state. Hot Cocoa seems to be in the worst state. Therese Bugnot has something that seems to be causing some dieback on some stems. Queen Elizabeth has some aphids and looks like it may be going to be a problem. Blanc Double de Coubert has some but is blooming OK for now. The little Angel roses mostly seem in good shape. I forgot to check The Fairy. I refuse to fuss over roses so we'll see what survives or not! I suspect the fact that it's getting dry and we've had no strong rain to speak of is having an impact.

Having ennoyed myself with inspecting finicky things like roses, I was at least happier with some of the other things out there!

The front porch is a nice sitting place - if it was warm enough, which it isn't!

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(That cursed mat in front of the door will NOT stay in place and it drives me nuts!)

This picture didn't turn out very well... The Patty's Plum poppies and this sanguisorba is making a very pleasing combination at the moment.

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Here are a couple of pictures of the tripod 'family' we put together forclematises. The first shot is of the one in the main bed that has the Huldine, Star of india and Rouge Cardinal on it. The second is a view from the road from a few days ago so you can see all three (two along the garage aid one in the main bed). The third is taken from the neighbour's driveway and you can see the three again from a different angle. I expect that we'll have to replace the bamboo with something studier next year or the year after but I wanted to see how it'd look...

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The Harlequin honeysuckle is just opening now and looks superb. A chainlink fence makes a great support! The second shot shows it with a columbine that is just fading now but the flower color is a great combination.

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Comments (16)

anitamo
14 years ago
I love your attitude woody...focus on the things that ARE doing well! You've reminded me that even in the midst of a big minus, there are many pluses! I love the poppy photo and your creative clematis tripods are great. I'd love to see the photo when the clematis is covering them. Have you tried hosing off the aphids? Thanks for sharing your WALAT.
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Original Author
14 years ago
I went out with the intention of perhaps doing some hosing off of aphids but I ended up deciding it would be too much hose-dragging so to heck with them all! There's the chance of a thunderstorm tomorrow (it'll probably miss us again...) so I'll let Mother Nature take care of it if she chooses to....
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gb - yes, I know the tour coordinator that lives near here was watching the new bed go in - because she stopped in one day when Laurie and I were working on it! We gave her a tour of the garden so she could see the changes sice 2006 when we were on the tour. We talked about the possibility in a year or two of including our garden again, along with the neighbour to the north, the neighbour across the street (who was on the tour in 2005 and was probably the reason we were contacted for the 2006 tour) and another neighbour across the street and down two houses who is in the process of greatly enlarging her garden. Gardening is the neighbourhood competitive sport :-) so there's no shortage of gardens to choose from on this street and the one behind us! She mentioned it again when we ran into her at one of the gardens. They have a policy of not 'repeating' gadens until 5 years have passed so the issue isn't likely to come up until 2011. That thyme lawn was completely weed free! I suspect a garden service of some sort is involved on the property.... I just don't want a lot of yellow in my garden because there is a huge chunk of yellow in it already - the house! If I did have yellow in the garden, what I'd like to do with it is make a yellow garden as a feature for a section of the garden rather than mixed in. I have a lot of relatively monochrome/limited color range areas - that appeals to me a lot. I loved the peony/golden grass combo. In the same bed there was also euonymus with golden centers to the leaves and some gold juniper. I thought what needed to be done was eliminate most of the other stuff in the bed and make it a much more concentrated yellow bed! It would have been stunning I think. There was a lot of strong blue in the house trim and garden furniture and a gold bed would have complimented it wonderfully. Deanne - I agree that one of the fun things on the tour is seeing the personality in the gardens - they were all very individual and it's also interesting to see what it was that caught our eye in each. It makes me wonder what were the things that people focussed on here. Vyvyan Pennell, I know, was it for a lot of people! I've been thinking a lot about why that blooms the way it does. I have concluded that maybe the reason is the soil. I gather clematis likes things on the alkaline side. The soil there must be very alkaline - there's the concrete curb at the edge of the bed; the driveway goes right up to the bed and the base under the asphalt is limestone road base stuff; the porch is supported by concrete in sonotubes; and our soil here tends to be on the alkaline side in general. So, if you're moving the Pennell, maybe move it to somewhere near concrete - or add lime to where it is now? I give it some clematis fertilizer in spring because I know the soil there is VERY poor - clay, dry because it's under the roof overhang, winter salt ends up there from the driveway - and so on... It's amazing it survives at all! Maybe it's doing the 'bloom like mad/reproduce before you die' thing :-) Kathy - Randy has always been great at the close-up garden pictures. It's getting him to take 'big picture' views that are hard - he's naturally a detail kind of person.... Norma - the plant next to Vyvyan Pennell is Rodgersia aesculifolia. It's a fabulous thing - wonderful leaves and great flowers too. Rodgersias are one of gb's favorites too - right gb...? Denise - there is a x durandii growing in the BDC rose - and not doing anything worth talking about! Vyvyan is in such tight quarters, there's no way I could dig it up so there it stays! I'm going to give it some more fertilizer after it finishes blooming and see if I can get it to put out new growth and climb the ropes you can see in the picture.
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Our heater came on last night, Jennifer, and this morning. Oh you have dresses, don't you? Of course you do. LOL The strawberries at school are stretching up, too. I ran in this morning to see how things looked (wet in the low spot, but great everywhere else. And then back here to mow, and then weeded a bit. But on days that I mow, I mostly don't do a lot of other stuff. And sometimes NOTHING else. Garry had to get under the deck and put a cinder block under the steps supporting beam, as the steps had sunk some on one side. That was just about an all day project. Now we need to go get a couple pieces of lattice. And I need him to get the deck power-washed so I can get to painting. I am shocked--rain tonight and in the morning? Wow. I had a BUNCH of petunias coming up in the wheelbarrow. This morning I noticed they were all stripped to the stems. What is odd is that I have larger petunias in many other containers and they are untouched. I sure hope they STAY untouched! Do any of you have any idea what could have stripped those? It was a great day for mowing, but every time I went out just to sit, too chilly, so then I'd have to go walk around. There's not much action in terms of color. Stuff is happening very slowly. Verbena bonariensis, spider wort, hollyhock zebrinas are filling in, and the nicotiana, petunias, astilbes, and rose campion are JUST beginning. The hydrangeas are enormous, but taking their sweet time to bloom. Since they've been here (this is their fifth year), this is the latest they've been; usually by now they're in full bloom. I'm kinda liking this. I was looking at photos from 2 yrs ago. We are a couple weeks behind we were then. All's good out in the vegetable beds. I am a little freaked out with the flower beds. Remember, I panted SO many things last year. Sort of knew this could happen. . . . I see stuff coming up. Not remembering what I planted. Being fairly certain what's weeds and what's not. BUT just because I realize something is not a weed, doesn't really mean I have any idea what it is! There's a clumping plant out there--an obvious member of the mint faily (wow! Way to narrow it down, right? LOL) But it has no scent whatsoever. Rule out most herbs, right? The tiny worrisome part is that it is also sprouting in the veggie raised beds. . . What did you do now, Nancy! I know I have hyssop out there, several basils, but what else, no idea. No excuse for being in this position. Oh, wait. I have a list of stuff I planted out there in all the beds. I will have to retrieve and figure it out maybe. THIS year I was very careful to plant the labels with the plants. And then got the green beans mixed up with the okra, and now I'm not sure which is which. No matter--they're in styrofoam cups. I expect they'll let me know who is who. I soaked them all first, so they're sprouting up in record time--like 3 day was the earliest. I had ordered five aster tataricus from this obscure (obscure to US in OK--might be famous as all get-out in northern CA) nursery called Digging Dog Nursery. I ordered them in February. When I researched them and searched for sellers, this was the first one I found after much time looking. So it was a complete crap shoot. Then my debit card had a couple unathorized charges in Feb/March, so ordered a new one. Got an email from DD that my number didn't work; didn't see the email until maybe 7-10 days after they sent it. So called them frantically with new number. Then nothing.. . . 7-10 days later, got a voice mail from them saying perhaps they got the number wrong, could I call them. Well it was in the middle of a bunch of other stuff--plants for the school, phone calls from church people, and some family stuff. I totally forgot. But when the plant didn't arrive about when they should have, I called the nursery and wondered what the status was. She reminded me she'd left me a voice mail. I tell ya, friends, I am losing it!! BUT!! My plants arrived two days ago. They look healthy and perky. Do you all remember when I SO wanted my burn weed (which Jason identified correctly, of course) to be the aster tataricus. Well. At least the burn weed led me to the aster. I'm excited to see how it does. https://www.finegardening.com/plant/tatarian-aster-aster-tataricus Isn't it a riot to see the pains we all go through to get the plant of our dreams!! And of course, it's a toss of the dice.
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deanneart
14 years ago
Oh Woody! So many lovely, lovely things going on in your gardens right now. The honeysuckle columbine combo is fabulous!

The clematis supports are fantastic and I love the Sanguisorba/Poppy combo. What beautiful gardens.

I'm going to try to talk Doug into a drive up there somtime this season to visit with you and Bug.

Deanne
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triple_creek
14 years ago
Well darn those aphids Woody. I am being invaded by all sorts of pests cutworms among them.

I like the tripods. That was very creative, and I bet they will look superb when the clematis take over.

I also like the Harlequin honeysuckle. Thats a nice looking plant and the columbine really compliments it.

Wish I could share some of our rain with you. Norma
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dodgerdudette
14 years ago
An enjoyable WALAT in spite of aphids lurking in the shadows ! Your garden looks splendid right now Woody- I do like those tripods. I use 6ft bamboo stakes quite a bit, although I've started using steel training rods for the Dahlias.I will have to look up 'sanguisorba' as I am not familiar with is- I like the waving wand look.

Thanks for sharing these !

Kathy in Napa
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gardenbug
14 years ago
So near and yet so different!

We've had lots of rain, though we could use more now. I think that one rose has a problem here, but likely more do but i don't dare look. If I have time, I remove aphids with the hose or for those darned wormy things I remove them by hand. Yuck.

I too have a Sanguisorba, but darker. Is yours "Pink Elephant"? Mine is Menziesii. It really spreads alot and I remove some every year. I like mine in front of my Persicaria polymorpha. I'll try to get a shot of it tomorrow.

We've had good enough weather to sit outside, just not the time! Today it was 28 out there, 82.4F. I finished the third side of the vegetable garden, but don't have enough mulch to cover it. Some day soon I'd best do that!

I love the combo of the columbine and honeysuckle!
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Original Author
14 years ago
Kathy - longer term I'm thinking of replacing the bamboo with steel reinforcing rods covered with a sleeve of copper pipe (because I'm not keen on the rusty iron look in my garden...) but I need to look at ways to add additional support because I wouldn't be able to thread the copper wire through as easily as I can with the bamboo. I need to check out options in copper plumbing fittings.... :-)

GB - I'm pretty sure the sanguisorba is a Menziesii but have lost the tag so I'm not sure if it had a variety name or not. It's actually darker than it appears in the picture - red tones tend to get distorted with the camera. It's pretty close in color to the Patty's Plum. I can see that I will need to start editing out the sanguisorba soon too - there's a lot more of it than there used to be!

I was disappointed in the pictures that show the big bed - it looks like there's not much happening and the foliage looks a bit tired. That's not the case in person. A lot of what is blooming is blue and the camera seems to have faded it all out to blend into the green!
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denisez10
14 years ago
Beautiful, Woody! Interesting to see your sanguisorba paired with the plummy poppy, while 'bug's is paired against white, very different effect but both gorgeous. And the honeysuckle and aquilegia is stunning. Nice, crisp edges at your house too! The clematis tripods and finials are elegant and functional, what a great idea.
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gardenbug
14 years ago
Woody, I found the aphids here. :( The black ugly ones. (Is there another kind?) They seem to love my Euonymus europeus.

My bamboo tripods lasted two years. I needed to tie in the stems that tried to escape after that.

Did you get any rain yet?
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Original Author
14 years ago
gb - we're getting rain this afternoon and evening but, so far at least, not nearly enough!

My aphids are green - I've not seen black ones. I haven't checked anything but the roses. I let everything survive - or not - on its own. Anything that doesn't make it doesn't belong in the garden!

Although you can't see it in the pictures, there is copper wire running between the tripod poles every foot or so. Hopefully that will help the clematises to climb and help keep them in bounds. The tripods are just temporary while I figure out a more sturdy alternative to build over this coming winter if I like how the tripods look and if the clematis seem to do reasonably well on them. I want to try to do something using copper pipes. The north alley fence and gate is nearby and they are built with copper pipes so it would be nice to have the clematis supports consistent with that. The garden needs some more height so some nice 8' supports for climbers would fit the bill nicely I think.
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Marian_2
14 years ago
Woody, I totally understand your attitude about the aphids. I feel the same about the outside plants. I DO fight the bugs, espacially scale, on indoor plants.
I also feel the same about rugs that do not stay where you want them. :-(
Your yard and flowers are lovely, and the tripods will be too, when the clems climb them. They are more attractive than what I rigged for my Heavenly Blue Morningglories.

My arms and shoulders are at their all time bad...and there is hardly a thing I can do that does not hurt. I am so glad you have help. You are much younger than I, and I am sure you do not want to give up so soon. I can pretty much accept that I am reaching the end of what I can do, and I am trying to not be bothered by all that I cannot do. Those who know me should understand, and those who do not know me....do not matter.
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prairiemoon2 z6b MA
14 years ago
There's Marian... :-) I'm sorry to hear you are not feeling well. You were having such a great spring, what a shame to have such a bad flare now. I hope you can rest as much as possible and wait it out until it improves. It must be very discouraging and disappointing after having been more active for awhile. Hang in there Marian, you've been bad many times before and you've improved, this time will be no different.

Woody....we have an awful case of aphids here this year too. I have let them go too and my lupine are a mess with them, but I just couldn't keep up with them either. A local nursery sells lady bugs here and I wanted to get over there and get some earlier in the worst way but never made it. So maybe next year if they are back, that is what I'll try. I have seen a few ladybugs on the roses, so they have not been too bad, but the ladybugs are definitely in the minority. Who knows, maybe by leaving the situation alone, the ladybugs that are here will multiply.

I love your tripods and the copper wire was a nice idea. I imagine they will fold together for storage that way. The Harlequin Honeysuckle is so pretty! Is it fragrant too?
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Original Author
14 years ago
Marian - I'm so sorry to hear you're having a bad plare-up. I was wondering where you'd disappeared to... Yes, it's great to have help and I definitely want to stay as active as possible as long as possible.

PM - we're planning to leave the tripods up for the winter, other than to remove the terra cotta finials. Randy pounded the poles in quite deep so we'll see what happens... I had insomnia last night and I occupied my mind by planning a more permanent replacement for the tripods! I've got it all worked out in my head but need to look into sizes of materials and draw a construction diagram. Building them will be a winter project for this winter. So, if the tripods come down with the snow this winter, it won't matter.
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chloehoover
14 years ago
Woody, I only had a chance to look at these at home last nite -- one would never know there are hidden "woes" -- I love that poppy and sanguisorba combination -- really terrific. And those tripods are lovely - I hope they last more than a winter for you for all the work you and Randy put into them.

Thanks for sharing!
-cindy
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michelle_zone4
14 years ago
Woody, I'm with you on survive or die in the garden. I like your tripods. I made a very similar on in my veggie garden this year. I had a metal ball similar to yours that I put on top. I used the tallest green plastic stakes that they make. I'm not sure its the best look but the vines hopefully will cover soon. I made a smaller one with some rods that DH got at the place he purchases the metal items he uses in welding. They aren't rebar but smooth. I'm wondering if they come in a little thicker pieces.
Nice touch with the floral arrangement on the porch, which looks like an inviting place to relax.

Everything looks so pretty and lush, hopefully the aphids aren't too much of a bother.

Michelle
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chelone
14 years ago
Wow Woody, your gardens look wonderful. I have real trouble with aphids and blackspot on roses. Which probably explains why I regard them with a certain level of frustrated disdain. My tortured New Dawn may just well get an eviction notice this year...

The Honeysuckle does look terrific, a hummingbird magnet, I bet!

And I just love the color of your home; I've always loved yellow houses. So pretty and they look "welcoming" to me.
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WALATing in search of aphids late this afternoon :-(

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WALATing in search of aphids late this afternoon :-(

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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., CanadaOriginal Author

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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., CanadaOriginal Author

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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
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woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
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