norwood, just so you know.....soap sprays only work if you actually get the spray on the critter. Once it dries, or the insect isn't drenched in it, it's useless. Be very careful about using dish detergents for pest problems as they can be very caustic on tender foliage. Dawn has a terrible reputation for causing severe damage, more so than most. Believe it or not, commercial insecticidal soaps are less damaging to leaves, while being more effective for pest control. ANYhow! The leaf chewing on your plant looks like the damage caused by leaf cutter bees. Do all the leaves look sort of like half circles neatly cut away?

Does it look like animal damage and not pests? I would suspect deer even though there is plenty for them to eat elsewhere. All my sunflowers were "pruned down to 4 ft; the tomatoes were chewed off at the top, and they even chewed on the rhubarb! I lost all my peaches to them and they have damaged some of the peach branches. I have to assume deer given the heighth but maybe it's bigfoot.

Are you trying to invite them to come back? Most of my bad fruits go in compost. Sometimes I throw them far out in the woods - that way the animals that MAY be in the area get to eat something away from my garden and dont develop a taste for coming into my garden - which if they tried, they will have to meet my two dogs. Love my dogs and spoil them with bacon and bones!

This year is very similar to last year in terms of there being an abnormally warm October. When we have seasons like this, Fall foliage is not ideal. I am also in NJ (Zone 7) and am currently in peak color (went driving today just to see it in fact), but the colors have not been as stunning as in "normal" years. What I noticed last year too, was the leaves lingered on the trees even after they were nipped by frost. In my area, we have only had a very light frost so far (and many of my tropicals are still outside in fact). A harder frost should cover most areas in several days. And not sure if it's related to Fall color, but it's also been a very, very WET Fall.