Problem Plants

Symptom
A new bleeding heart I bought this year and planted in the shade garden died off within a month.

What's Changed
As this is a new planting - I am not sure what I did.

Research
I read that bleeding hearts may die back during summer, so I will be on the lookout next year. If nothing comes up - well I guess I need to work on the soil some more before adding another.

Solution
Keep an eye out.

Symptom
The roses near my honeysuckle and the honeysuckle itself has got a bad case of mildew. The honeysuckle has lost 50% of its leaves. I am afraid I will lose this plant.

What's Changed?
Added lattice to the deck to give honeysuckle a place to grow on. Also planted a pineapple sage in front of one of the rose bushes. This sage grew to 3+ feet an unexpected size.

Research
I think I have restricted the air flow too much around the plants. This will increase the time moisture is on the plants. Since these plants spend much of their time in the shade, I need to be careful about allowing a good amount of air to circulate around the plants.

Solution
Spring 2008. I plan to remove the lattice, and replace it with thin strips of wire, that will allow for more airflow.
I will also make sure the soaker hose is fully covered by mulch to reduce the chance the plants foliage gets wet.
Keep your fingers crossed!

Symptom
It appears removing the plastic may have brought up some nasty mildew spores, that I now need to combat.

What's Changed?
Removal of plastic, the addition of new mulch, and a weekly watering regime (although no water hits the plant leaves).

Research

Solution

Symptom
My new rose bush has yellowing leaves at the bottom of the stem, and the new blooms have brown crusts around the edges. Another rose bush shows the brown crust on the petals, but now yeallowing leaves at the bottom.

What's Changed?
I removed the plastic sheeting in the rose bed in early May as I had heard plastic doesn't allow roots to breathe, nor allow the wonderful humus the worms were creating from the bark mulch to leach into the soil.

Research
A quick perusal from Google, I found that my plants may be drought stressed. I have not regularly watered to make up for the loss of the plastic water insulaing affects. I found my information at www.rose-roses.com Here is a quote from the site.

Severe Drought - Symptoms When the roots of your rose dry out completely, forget about it, your rose is a gonner. This is something that very rarely happens however. Usually drought symptoms on your rose will happen more gradually. Your rose will tell you when things get really bad here. First lets look at the symptoms of rapid drought damage. This usually occurs on potted roses that haven't been watered. If it is a hot scorching day and the plant is not absorbing enough water, the new growth will actually dessicate and dry up right on the plant. The leaves will actually get crispy and you will be able to crumble them to dust with your hands. I have seen this type of thing completely kill off all of the leaves on a plant in one day. The symptoms of slow drought damage are more subtle. It starts with the older bottom leaves turning yellow and falling off. If left unchecked your rose will lose all of its leaves and the canes will start to dry up and die. This is the slow death and even though it can result in death of the plant you have plenty of chances to save it. Even a rose that has lost all of its leaves can still be saved. But you have to act.

Solution
When to water - in the morning. Stick your finger in the water basin. When the soil feels dry down about 2" or so, give the rose a nice, slow, drink of water. Soak the soil to a depth of 6 - 8 inches.

To make it easy on myself I took a soaker hose, and buried it under the bark mulch. I will set it on a timer to water every few days for a 1/2 hour... will need to monitor to make sure I am not watering too much!

Problem
I have one rose that has very little growth, and that it does has yellow leaves with green viens.

What's Changed
Nada?

Research
Chlorosis or Iron Deficiency The new leaves and shoots on your roses appear as light yellow green to white with darker green veins showing. This is the most common and apparent deficiency to occur in roses. Photosynthesis needs iron in order to work. If there is no iron there is no chlorophyll, hence the rose leaves cannot turn green. This is most commonly caused by clay soils. Certain kinds of clay (clays are a group of several different minerals) 'eat' iron as they go about the process of chemical weathering.

Treatment: This condition necessitates the addition of chelated iron to the soil on a regular basis. Just a handful around the base of the plant out to about 1 foot in radius is enough to start fix the problem usually. There are some iron additives that include nitrogen fertilizers with them, so that you can kill two birds with one stone.

Solution
Bought some chelated iron fertilizer on 6/7. Will add on 6/8 and then monitor.

Update: 7/4/06 Added the iron powder to the base of the plant and after three weeks there has been no change. Will have to keep monitoring.

Problem

What's Changed

Research

Solution