this is awesome!!! thank you both so much.

i'm going to have a balcony garden this year. i'll have lots of questions as to what is best to plant here in north texas.

Oh Wow, this is great!! My question---I have several peony plants and peony trees. Two years ago we had a very wet summer. My peony plant leaves and stalks started turning whitish grey, and then got black spots all over. I cut them back to the ground. Last year they came back up with the same problem. I cut them back again.Thank goodness my peony tress are still healthy.

Is this fungus, and how do I get rid of it? Or, do you think this is some other problem?They are just starting to come up again. They didn't bloom that well last year either.

Peonies --- Tree Peonies should never be cut back. At least that's my opinion from my training. If you have some sort of fungus on them, then that should be treated and the infected leaves and stalks should be removed and destroyed.

Shrub peonies should be cut back every year. What you are describing sounds like a fungus. Make sure when you do your spring clean up, that all of the mulch and dead leaves and stalks from last season have been completely removed and replaced. The fungus is probably still growing in the mulch from the previous season.

During this season, if you see any leaves or stalks appearing with these same black spots, remove them immediately. Be sure that water is not splashing onto the plants.

Roses don't like water splashed on their leaves. Either from overhead watering or rain or splashing water. This does cause blackspot. As for the powdery mildew, this can also be caused by too much water and too much mulch around the base of the roses. I don't use too much mulch around my roses. I keep an area away from the roots. This allows air to circulate and keeps them from getting too much water and keeps the soil from staying wet. Roses don't like their feet wet.

I live in the high desert (3500' elevation) and my roses are in a bed with hot southwest exposure. They get about 20 minutes of drip line water each day and do just fine. We get about 10 inches of water a YEAR so as you can see, my roses are not water soaked at all. Last year, they were totally neglected b/c I was not well most of the summer. They didn't even get a good pruning and they just thrived! Neglect does them well!

My advice on roses - don't fuss over them. Fertilize them with a good systemic and prune them in the Spring, cut the flowers when you want something to look at, but otherwise, just leave them alone!

I've got a good au naturale recipe for aphids...

Thanks! Neglect I can do, lol.

I don't water them much - we usually get enough rain for roses. And aphids don't seem to bother them since I started putting the epsome salts around the roots. You just have to add more when the rain washes it away.

Oh drat! I took this literally as in Brain and Flygirl were coming to my house to garden. I would even offer my husband's culinary expertise to feed them and I would tend bar. Alas, that wasn't the offer, though.

I guess now I have to read through the thread and try to figure this gardening stuff out!

I was just out at Laurel's house and am doing a landscape plan for her! I did do one for her neighbor across the street! LOL!

Awww, I kill everything I touch, LOL!!! Can you two help me with my house plants? I'm murdering my spider plants, the aloa vera, my prayer plant...... oh, and the boston fern has lost most of it's leaves. There's a few others that I haven't killed yet, but I can tell you they are not very happy. Maybe it's my singing to them that's doing it????

Carolyn

Wow! What a fantastic thread!

I don't have a question at the moment, but I'm sure I'll have plenty when spring gets closer where I live, and we're ready to start putting the garden in order.

I'm wondering if there may be a way this could be made a sticky....if the Mods, Av8rgirl & Brain agree that is?

Are you misting? If so, don't. With most plants like those water collects at the base of the leaves and causes rot. They like humidity, but only in the air around them.

Watering - they like the soil to feel dry to the touch before you water. But do water.

How long since they've been repotted? The soil may be out of nutrients, may have become contaminated. Fungus, bacteria, and pests happen even in indoor pots.

I have an easier time with outdoor plants than indoor ones because natuter takes care of all those things better than I do.



I'd probably start with a fresh bag of Hyponex, a clean pot - check to see if their current one is still large enough, and if so just wash with hot soapy water. If not, only go up one size.


Wash the roots off well too with luke warm water - just in case it is something in the soil. Heck, wash the leaves, genlty. If there are any sick looking ones, cut them off. I use a solution of 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water to kill bacteria if I really think the plant is sick. Pot them up, water well.

If it's a newer problems, I'd put them back where they were. If it's an on going thing, I'd rethink where they were. Maybe the lighting isn't right, maybe it's not warm enough, too warm.

Then try to water on a schedule when the soil feels dry.