I thought I would give you an update on my coneflowers and the worms. As suggested by you wonderful blogging friends, I cut off all the blooms on the plants that had the tiny worms. And, I am happy to tell you the coneflowers are blooming again and show no signs of the pesky little worms.
They look really healthy even in this heat, but of course coneflowers really kind of like all this hot weather.
The only plant that is not looking very happy is the White Swan. There are quite a few buds, but they are not developing as I think they should. I wonder if worms continue to be a problem with this plant. And, something is enjoying the leaves as you can see. I really don't mind a bite or two taken out of a leaf, but please leave the seed heads alone!
This is my newest coneflower:Hot Papaya.
It starts out as a light yellow, then as it grows the petals turn a pretty apricot color. I found a worm on one of the flowers earlier, and cut all the buds off.
This plant has tons of blooms now and as far as I can tell, it is worm free.I still don't know what type of worms I had. I tried to do some research on what it could be as did Tina. (thanks so much Tina!) I read about diseases coneflowers are susceptible to, but could never find anything about problems with bugs of any kind. Such as life in a garden.. you never know what surprises--good and not so good--you will find! I hope all your garden surprises were good ones today!
"Let us permit nature to have her way. She understands her business better than we do."
Michel de Montaigne
15 comments:
So glad they are doing well. They came back fast too!
Thanks Tina! (The link to you is now in place--sorry it was late in coming) They do seem to be blooming well, but I saw a tiny worm on my window..inside...where I have all kinds of vases with all kinds of flowers sitting on the window sill. The worm was exactly what I saw before, so I think he crawled out of one of my flowers. Darn! :)
Glad they are performing beautifully for you Linda.
You know you could take one of those worms to a local nursery and ask them if they know what they are. That is if you are curious. Or maybe even a county extension office.
They are all so pretty and colorful. I haven't had any problems (yet!) with my coneflowers, but I'm having several problems with the swamp milkweed I planted this year to attract monarchs. I have some type of spiders, some type of fungus, and yellow milkweed aphids. I haven't blogged about it...but it's been frustrating, to say the least. Glad you were able to get some help from Tina. Gardening is not for those who can tolerate only perfection!!
Glad you have a solution...kinda...a solution for saving your coneflowers, but not a solution to stop those pesky worms...hmmmmm. I LOVE the Hot Papaya!!! too cool that it starts one color and goes into another one!!
I love your new one, it is on my list! It is always something in the garden, I am glad you are seeing improvements. God Bless!!
~Brooke
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Susie, that is a good idea. I will be taking classes at the county extension center, so I should try and find a worm and take it. I wish they would be gone though...but think they are hanging around somewhere.
Jan, I have problems with fungus too at times. And my milkweed always has aphids, but I just leave them alone waiting for the monarch caterpillars to come. I don't want to spray anything that might keep them away!
JJ--it might just be a fix for a while..I am not sure. Wonder if the heat has anything to do with these worms appearing? Hum...
Glad you like the new coneflower Brooke! It is such a bright color, and looks really happy right now. There was another coneflower I wanted to get at Lowe's-but hate to plant anything right now with all this heat!
Good morning. All the rain we had in June has caused a population explosion of earwigs here. They eat the blooms on our coneflowers, nasty little things.
Hope you have your worm problem solved.
Marnie
Wow those are spectacular! I love the new coneflower. I tried all the new ones as they came out (sunrise,sunset etc.) and they never came back after the winter. I don't know what happened. I tried three years in a row so I gave up. I would love to try the Hot Papaya! That is so pretty!
Glad the worms are gone. I wonder what they were too. I have two cone flowers left and they are the old fashioned purple/white. Not to exciting but I am glad they are still around!
Marnie--really! Earwigs--I see them here but never on coneflowers. These worms are bedded down in the seed heads. I have to seperate the heads to see them. Nasty little guys! :)
Cindee--I think the purple are the die hard come back every year, although my white swan has come back too, just with worms this year! I bet the new one dies back, but I wanted to try it. It is in such a great sunny spot--even if it doesn't come back, enjoying it this summer is worth the money. I am really thinking of having coneflowers (purple) all around the pond. I think they look so good around water. Decisions for next year... :) Hope you are having a good summer!
Glad to hear they are doing better now. I was eyeballing that Hot Papaya in the garden center earlier this summer, it seemed to red for me to find a spot for it. But yours looks more pinkish. Maybe I'll rethink it. ;)
Racquel--the new flower is much more orange than red. I think coral is a good way to describe the color. It may not return though. Like Cindee said, the purple and sometimes white are the only ones that seem to be perennials.
Great update!!! I love the colors!!! They certainly do brighten the garden.
MR-you know what is really making the garden bright these days are the zinnias that are finally blooming! Not as many as I wanted, but I sure enjoy the few I have!
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