On 2009-07-15 15:26:47 +0100, "Ivan" said:
"Sacha" wrote in message
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On 2009-07-14 18:24:09 +0100, "Ivan" said:
"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2009-07-14 18:02:14 +0100, "Ivan" said:
As I am a relative newcomer to gardening I hope someone here may be to
help me with a couple of problems.
My young grand daughter has been telling me that 'the honey bees are in
trouble', therefore we have to do our bit to try and encourage as many
of them into our gardens as we can.
Fair enough I saw on the telly that bees are particularly attracted to
honeysuckle and lavender plants, so I went to our local garden centre
and purchased a 'Lonicera americana' honeysuckle which I was informed
was particularly good, at the time I did notice that a couple of the
leaves looked a little suspect (as in photo) but thought that once I
got it into some decent soil with a couple of handfuls of bonemeal (as
seen on TV) everything would be OK, however whilst it still continues
to grow apace the leaves still look far from healthy, whilst the stems
in places appear to have a greyish coating.
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Also a lavender that I purchased at the same time started off
wonderfully but that too now appears to be on the wane with some of the
heads now beginning to turn a brownish colour.. Any help will be
greatly appreciated, below is a link to a couple of photos of both the
honeysuckle and the lavender plant.
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TIA Ivan
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http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Anth230542/HonLavr?authkey=Gv1sRgCPKH-i75Yv4gwE&feat=directlink
or
http://tinyurl.com/lwnrs6
I'd
take
both straight back to the place you bought them from.
--
Sacha
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Oh dear, that sounds ominous?
Not ominous exactly but to some extent, it depends on how long you've
had the plants. If it's just a week or a few days, I think they should
be replaced by the gc. If it's long enough to have got mildew in your
garden then of course that's not the gc's fault. But you said the
honeysuckle looked a bit poorly before you bought it. Water everything
in well if you decide not to return them, remembering that lavenders
need to drain well, too and be in sun.
--
Sacha
I must have bought the honeysuckle about five weeks ago, a couple of
the leaves had the same kind of discoloration on them then as the ones
in the photos, the woman who selected it for me must have noticed,
however she nor the man on the checkout mentioned anything about it, so
I assumed it was just where the plant was in a small pot and everything
would be OK once I got it planted in the garden with nourishment and
water.
It's grown quite big now, so I don't see it being a practical
proposition to dig it out and return it, can you tell by the photos
http://tinyurl.com/lwnrs6 what the problem is, if so can I purchase
any sort of treatment to cure it?
WR to the lavender plant, up until now it's been growing and thriving
with nice healthy blooms, which over the last couple of days have
started to discolour, it says on the label that came with it that it
blooms during June and July, but as we're only yet halfway through July
I wonder if it is also being afflicted by some kind of disease, or as
Kay has suggested, maybe it's just the natural dying off process, its
planted in a 2 foot deep culvert (now filled with soil) which used to
house a pond pump and actually does have quite good drainage (via a
plastic pipe buried underneath the lawn) at the bottom of it.
Sorry, Ivan, I lost this post and have just seen Charlie's reply. He's
very expert so I can only endorse what he says. However, I think it
would be worth asking the gc what its returns policy is. But next time
you buy any plants at all, I would certainly suggest that you don't buy
any if any part of them appears diseased. Many plants can get
something at some time but it's better to start with perfectly healthy!
As to the lavender, what you say about its planting does make me think
it's in too damp a place. I once moved some lavender from a dry (as I
thought) bed where it just wasn't doing anything, to a double-skinned
low wall filled with rubble and about a foot or two of soil. The whole
thing drained into the ground beneath. Last time I saw it the lavender
was making a take over bid for half the village! If you've had even
half the rain we've had here I think that culvert may be holding on to
much more moisture than your lavender likes.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon