Hi Amaryllis,

I donÂt know for sure if itÂs the low humidity around here that messes with it or what. In places like San Francisco IÂve seen it blooming along the roads for most of the summer. Possibly itÂs the really hot temps we get. SF never gets this hot.

There were a couple plants of it in at this house when I moved in, and even tho I knew it was invasive, I let it go the first year and didnÂt try to pull it out or roundup it. The next spring it came up EVERYWHERE, including on the other side of a 3' sidewalk. Again it was so pretty when it started to bloom so early that I left it go. It bloomed for maybe a month and then quit and gradually became completely covered with powdery mildew. By then I had resolved to get rid of it before it took over the rest of my front yard, but the mildew was so bad I didnÂt really think there was enough leaf left to spray the roundup on, but I did it anyway, fully expecting to need to use roundup over and over to get rid of it. Much to my surprise, that one application killed almost all of it. I think the mildew had it so weakened that the roundup was able to easily knock it outÂto my great delight! Mine was in a bed that was watered regularly, so the fact that youÂre not watering is not what is causing the problem. And if itÂs red spots on the leaves youÂre talking about, that seems to be normal for it. When I was selling it, the plants usually had red spots on the leaves. I donÂt believe itÂs any sort of a disease or problem.

But, my real question is, are you sure you want to keep it? To say itÂs invasive is almost an absurd understatement. Anything that can come up on the other side of a sidewalk is downright dangerous! This year (two years later) IÂm still pulling out small pieces of it on the "other side" of the sidewalk where I didnÂt spray as well with the roundup. And there have been other threads around here where people were begging for help with getting rid of it. It only takes a year or two to go everywhere! So seriously consider if you want to keep it or not, and if you do decide to get rid of it, spraying it now while it has the mildew will probably help you get rid of it if my experience is any indication.

If you do decide to keep it, you might try cutting it all the way down and I think it may rebloom when it comes back. DonÂt know if the mildew will come back when it starts growing again, thoughÂI suspect it will.

Good luckÂwhichever way you decide to go,
Skybird

Sykbird hits the nail on the head regarding mildew - heat and dryness. And yet, I realize that fungus benefits from moisture, including dew.

Whatever the plant, if it gets "beaten up" enuf during the Summer . . . mildew can get started. There are other circumstances where mildew will gain an upper hand as well but this hot, dry climate is very damaging to the leaf tissue for many plants.

digitSteve

I'm trying to eradicate this plant from my garden as well. Difficult to do when it finds its way in between other flowers all over the backyard. I wouldn't recommend keeping it around!

I rue the day I ever planted this. If I ever see someone at the big box stores or the nursery with it in their cart, I just feel compelled to tell them how far reaching it is and what an absolute pain in the neck it has been for me. Even roundup didn't do much to it. I have been digging it all summer and it just keeps on coming up everywhere. It's right there with bindweed for me.

Be glad it's not thriving. You're lucky.