Luckily, my plants seem to have faired pretty well considering they've been quite neglected. The rose has put on huge amounts of healthy looking growth (I hadn't realised quite how much until I looked back at the earlier photos I'd posted).
However, unfortunately, the green fly that I noticed on the lavender plants a couple of weeks ago, seem to be continuing their bid for world domination... and have spread to the my rose - argh!!! It's early days yet, I've only spotted a very few, but it just goes to show that you can't afford to be complacent in this game and that whilst there are hardly any aphids left on the lavenders anymore... I fear that the problem has simply moved home to a newer, tastier venue. So, I really must do something - i'm thinking of discarding the infested pot of tulips this afternoon, and then ordering some ladybirds and/or larvae this evening. My new rose bush, as the little green critters must learn to understand, is not on their menu!
If you look carefully, you can see a couple of aphids on the new leaves.
9 comments:
Hi Flora, welcome back! Looks like your rose is doing well. Wonderful to see those young leaves. Happy blogging and gardening!
Hi Flora, good to see things growing ok despite your busy-ness!
Hi, nice to meet another Edinburgh gardener. I'm so envious of your horticulture course - I'd change career in a flash if I could!
Greenfly on roses and especially honeysuckle are a huge problem for me. I had no flowers on the latter last year because I didn't spray with anything and didn't get organised with ladybirds. This year I've sprayed with an organic spray from B&Q, which seems to have been effective so far and doesn't say (as the others do) that it's extremely harmful to bees. If you do get ladybirds I'll be interested to see how you get on. We had tons of them at our allotment plot when we first took it on, but as we cultivated the overgrown plot they disappeared.
Congratulations on the new job, and finishing your course.
There were hundreds of ladybugs coming out of hibernation in my backyard in May. The ladybugs here seem just about balanced with the aphids. I had lots of ladybugs on the Viburnum yesterday, which always gets lots of aphids in the fall. I was glad to see those ladybugs being proactive. :)
Good luck with your coursework!
Also, I gave you an award; it's on my blog: http://jackiessecretgarden.blogspot.com/
Cheers,
Jackie
Wow - so many comments! Thank you all!
Stephanie: I'll have to post another picture of the rose - it's now got buds :o)
Emma: It's nothing short of a miracle. I'm in the first week of my new job and just about finding time to water the plants, but nothing much more than that.
Linda: I've just had a career change, and am really excited to be in my first proper plant related job. Well, 4 days in, things are going ok so far anyway!
I might have to have a look out for the B&Q product you mention to attack the greenfly with - so far i've not managed to get organised and order any ladybirds either. I like the idea of having some though - even if they don't stay in the area for long!
Northern shade: Sounds like you've some v. happy and well fed ladybirds - I'm still hoping that the local population will discover my pots and the feast of greenfly that awaits them! (sadly, no sign of any yet though...)
Jackie: Thanks for the award! My first so i'm very chuffed :o)
I have just checked Mothers window box's, happily they are free from pestilence. Father would say "nature red in tooth and claw!".
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