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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Anth230542/HonLavr?authkey=Gv1sRgCPKH-i75Yv4gwE&feat=directlink
or
http://tinyurl.com/lwnrs6

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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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

|

Oh dear, that sounds ominous?

Ivan writes

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.

That's likely to be mildew. Make sure you keep it well watered in dry
weather - mildew is worse if the plants are stressed by dry soil.

Not sure what's wrong with the honeysuckle. It doesn't look terminal
(you still have a lot of healthy leaves), and it may just have been in
the container for too long (if that's the case, then that is a garden
centre to avoid in the future, if you have an alternative).

|
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..


To be honest, I couldn't see much wrong in the picture. How long has the
lavender been in flower? Are you sure it's not just that the flowers are
coming to the end of their natural term?

--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
Ivan writes

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.

That's likely to be mildew. Make sure you keep it well watered in dry
weather - mildew is worse if the plants are stressed by dry soil.

Not sure what's wrong with the honeysuckle. It doesn't look terminal (you
still have a lot of healthy leaves), and it may just have been in the
container for too long (if that's the case, then that is a garden centre
to avoid in the future, if you have an alternative).

|
Also a lavender that I purchased at 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..


To be honest, I couldn't see much wrong in the picture. How long has the
lavender been in flower? Are you sure it's not just that the flowers are
coming to the end of their natural term?


|

Thanks for your input, I have kept the honeysuckle well watered and wonder
if there's any kind of spray or treatment I can use to counteract the
problem? surprisingly there seems to be very little if anything on the net
relating to diseases wr to honeysuckle, maybe because they think that
because it's such a hardy plant it's more than capable of looking after
itself.
With regards the lavender I've just nipped out and checked the plastic label
that came with it, which tells me that the blossom time is 'June and July'
so you may well be right, however I somehow imagined that lavender remained
in flower for a lot longer than that.. like I said I'm pretty new to all of
this)
|

Ivan

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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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

|

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
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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

|

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.

In article ,
says...

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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

|

Oh dear, that sounds ominous?

Both Lonicera x americana and Lonicera x italica (which is what you get
99 times out of 100 in the uk when you buy x americana) are prone to
mildew but x italica is worse and the only way around it is have it
somewhere less dry and its possible in the case of x italica to cut it
back after flowering as it flowers early (it is mostly over by now )the
new growth will normally be clear of mildew, you can also spray but its
not likely to cure the problem completely.
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...
In article ,
says...

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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

|

Oh dear, that sounds ominous?

Both Lonicera x americana and Lonicera x italica (which is what you get
99 times out of 100 in the uk when you buy x americana) are prone to
mildew but x italica is worse and the only way around it is have it
somewhere less dry and its possible in the case of x italica to cut it
back after flowering as it flowers early (it is mostly over by now )the
new growth will normally be clear of mildew, you can also spray but its
not likely to cure the problem completely.



Thank you for the advice, I haven't seen any flowers since I've had it and
despite most of the leaves being affected it appears to be growing at quite
a phenomenal rate, is there any particular make of anti mildew spray that
you can recommend?
Also the instructions suggest pruning in February, would it be unwise to
attempt to do any now, or is it best that I wait until next year?

On 2009-07-15 15:26:47 +0100, "Ivan" said:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
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

|

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

In article ,
says...

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
T...
In article ,
says...

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
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.
|
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.
|
TIA Ivan
|
Quote from Denis Bradshaw (one time national honeysuckle collection
holder)
"Most forms will benefit from cutting back immediatly after flowering or
in the autumn after the birds have had the berries. During winter twiggy
or diseased stems can be cut out and any over vigorous growth can be
shortened by one third."

If you follow the instructions on the label it will reduce the amount of
flower considerably!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea