Ah, yes... a honeysuckle. Thanks, couldn't put my finger on it, but knew the blooms were familiar. Much obliged!

Hello, hlancast. I hate to answer your question with more questions but it would help to know more. Does the soil around the base of the plant feels dry, moist or wet when you insert a finger to a depth of 3-4 inches? How much water are the plants receiving and how often? What times of the day do they receive sunlight? Can you describe the way the leaves are changing colors? Are they wilting? Do you notice anything unusual under the leaves? Do you notice any insects eating the leaves? You did not state where do you live so let me ask you if you suffer from weevils in your area? Most of the sudden problems that I have heard people report are due to nighttime crawlers called weevils, insects that kill the plant in two ways. The larvae feed on the roots while the adult feeds on the leaves. Notched leaf edges are symptoms of weevils. Click here to see an example of notched leaves (scroll down to Figure 3). Repeated Orthene sprays can be used against the adults but I am not aware of much that can be done to kill the larvae effectively. I seem to remember someone who recommended a sticky product combination where you put a band around the trunk of the plant and then paste some sticky substance to the band so it traps the adults when then try to climb up the plant each day. The band is removed when the problem does away. Click here for more information on weevils. If this problem has been going on for a couple of weeks and you have not noticed any insect damage then your next possibilities are (1) the azalea was planted with roots that were root bound/pot bound or (2) a fungal disease that attacks the plant roots. Pot bound roots can be seen when you planted the azalea; they would be growing circling the pot. Excessive soil moisture and/or bad drainage are things that contribute to the fungal disease, which may already have been in your soil. To see if your roots are pot bound, you would have to very carefully check the azaleas roots or you would have to remember if you saw this when planting it. To see if you have the fungal disease, you would have to very carefully check the roots and see if you see brown, rust or red lessions. The first symptom is wilting of the leaves. Eventually the entire plant dies while the leaves remain attached. You can also manually check to see if the soil feels dry, moist or wet; standing water in the soil contributes to the rapid development of this fungus. I hope this helps, Luis

I have ordered a single plant of Lonicera sempervirens "Alabama Crimson" this spring. I'm trying to decide where to put it. I have a 7 ft metal arch-shaped trellis that I'm considering putting over our front walk. There is at least 6 hours of sun there, and the soil is good. What I can't decide is which of the several vines that I'll be growing will be best for the location. It would be nice to have something showy, that doesn't look ratty when it is out of bloom. Do you think Lonicera sempervirens "Alabama Crimson" would look good in a prominent location like that? Are the blooms conspicuous and pretty? Does it twine and climb in an attractive way? Does the foliage stay reasonably attractive in the heat of summer when the plant might not be blooming all that much? This will be an arch over our main walk leading to the house, so I want it to look nice. Other candidates for the arch are all annuals or tender perennials like Mina lobata (which might be too big a vine), Eccremocarpus scaber (the leaves might be too sparse on this one), Manettia bicolor, Cardinal vine or Cypress vine, or Scarlet Runner Bean. I suppose I might grow the Lonicera on one side of the arch and one of these on the other, but am not sure what the most compatible pairing might be. If I pick the wrong two, one might overwhelm the other. What do you think, guys?

Yes they hit my honeysuckle every year. If you can get to them early before they get a big hold on the vine it will help. You can take a hose and blast some of them off but I also use a product called neem oil. It is an oil that smothers them and does other things to them . They dont die right away but they forget to eat and breed . They also like to hide in the closed cluster leaves. Heres another story. A few years ago I had salvia subrotunda that was infested with aphids and it was a pathetic looking thing hanging all limp. When I went to pull it out of ground I saw this ladybug on it, so I decided to leave alone for a few days and each day I would go out and watch her work. I had heard people say what this bug can do. She was one busy bug over and under each leaf. Anyway that plant turned out to be the largest and healthiest plant in my garden.