Garden disaster!
+4
Please tell me what is wrong - mandevilla suddenly got yellow leaves w/black spots, rose bushes are sparse and not filling out, lace cap hydrangea never got flowers, just leaves, endless summer hydrangeas only get 4 flowers every summer, rose of sharon tree also sparse - disgusted with my garden. I water, feed, deadhead but nothing looks as it should! Help!
5 answers
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We all have those gardening moments! The lacecaps and endless summers had a hard winter this past year. As far as your rose of sharon, how old is it? Sometimes they are not the fullest and need to be trimmed and shaped to rejuvenate them. roses just have a lot of issues and pests and diseases can try your patience. as for the mandevilla, yellow leaves is sometimes too much water but with black spots that could be a fungus or other disease. Pictures help! To be honest, I do not deadhead a lot of things nor do I fertilize and when I do fertilize I use fish fertilizer because I have revived several sick plants with it. So my suggestion is to put a couple capfuls of fish fertilizer (available at Lowes or Home Depot for about $8) in a gal milk jug and water the plants when they are dry or about 5 caps in a 2 gal watering can which is what i have. Plus you may want to take off all the infected leaves on the mandevilla and spray a fungicide/mildew spray (but pics will help narrow down what is going on). gardening should not stress you out. and this time of year when the season is changing, so will the plants. I should ask how long have the plants been in the ground or how old are they? I will be watching for your answers...
The Garden Frog with C Renee
on Sep 01, 2014
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Our weather and excess rain has been wreaking havoc here in the Atlanta area. Three years ago I had about 100 roses in my yard, hardly any duplicates. Due to the excessive rains, especially last year, more than half have basically drowned. Others are dying, some managing to thrive. This time of year many rose cultivars thin out from the heat, and the humidity doesn't help either. I use Bayer 3 in 1 a couple of times in early spring, but not keeping the black spot at bay currently so time to spray. I have been so busy in everyone else's yards that I have not fed my roses enough this year. They are heavy feeders and love a mixture of Epsom salts, Miracle Grow or other bloom booster, fish emulsion and chelated iron. You can get by just on a high numbered bloom booster bi-weekly and sprinkling Epsom salts around the base once or twice during the season. Even though many of my trees have grown up and are shading some of my rose of Sharons, ( Althea), they have been displaying in glorious abundance. I do some pruning every couple of years to keep the shape slightly vase like and rejuvenate them. My dad sometimes cut his down to the ground and freaked out my mom. Yet, they always came back and thrived, but that was southern California where the growing season hardly ever ends. I do hit them with Miracle Grow when there is some left over from feeding my flower gardens and maybe that helps them. Hydrangeas are really confused this summer from the late freezes and extended cool weather. Last week Endless Summer just started coming into bloom so try not to give up on yours this year. My lacecaps were sparse this year, weather related as well. In addition the color has been really poor on all of my Endless Summers this year. However, this is the first year I have not fertilized them. Oops. I guess that is on my list for tomorrow. Think of how warm season lawns and sod this year with green up being delayed in many yards into July. Make sure they your plants in question are getting enough full sun and enough nutrients. Blame it on the water too, This has been a crazy, very interesting year for plants. But the photo opportunities have been amazing and way out of sync with the typical bloom combinations! Next season should be a great one.
Flowerscapes Garden Design & Landscaping
on Sep 01, 2014
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Thanks for the fish fertilizer idea. Thought of that last week but bought Bloom Booster instead. Will get that today! We have only been in our home for 4 years so most plants are in the ground for their 4th summer, the rose of sharon is 3 years. I took off the yellow leaves on the mandevilla but if more are there later on, I will definitely attach a photo. The roses have always done so well but this year is the only year they have been so sparse. I appreciate your help !!
HappyGrandmaGA
on Sep 02, 2014
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Thanks for the insight! Yes, last year everyone in GA dealt with constant rain but we have not had much this summer where we are but we water a bit every day. My hydrangeas have not produced much since we put them in - - moved them from sun to part sun and still only 4 flowers per bush per year. The lacecap is in its third year & it has not blossomed since I planted it. Full of green leaves - but I am ready to take it back to the store! It is guaranteed for life but no sense keeping it but maybe I can use the Epsom salts & fish fertilizer and it will come to life !?
HappyGrandmaGA
on Sep 02, 2014
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Totally know where you're coming from. Even though I'm further north, you might consider my two cents... Though my MANDEVILLA is overwintered indoors, it took forrrrever to bloom this year. I babied the poor thing like crazy. Have learned to water a little bit only when surface of soil is dry. Those beauties HATE to be overwatered. When I overwater during the winter... yep, yellow leaves and black spots falling off exponentially! As for my HYDRANGEAS, after 6 years, and despite our deep freeze winter, they seemed to like the fact that I left them completely alone last fall and this spring. No trim jobs. Zippo! Granted, I got only one bloom on one bush due to the ridiculous cold. But it was the most gorgeous and full bloom I've seen on any plant, ever. As for the ROSE OF SHARON, I have three: one bush, two trees. All are vigorously trimmed each fall. Mine are vintage species, so I am motivated to take my clippers to them before they go to seed, or I pay a pretty price by having to pull up hundreds of seedlings in the spring. Ugh! Our one lone climbing ROSE bit the dust this winter. Just too much for it. We replaced it with a rose more vigorous and able to cope with cold and wet. So far so good. Check back next spring. Be patient. And remember that gardens NEVER look perfect. They are ALWAYS a work in progress... just like us!
Nanahuff
on Sep 03, 2014
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