Hollyhock Leaves Riddled With Holes And Spots

The Garden Mix
Please welcome ou new sponsor: Nature's Nook! Make plans now to join Melinda on her famous Garden Walks at Boerner Botanical Gardens in 2013! Download the schedule here. Nationally renowned garden expert Melinda Myers helps everyday gardeners find success and ease in the garden through her Melinda’s Garden Moments radio segments. Melinda shares “must have” tips that hold the key to gardening success, learned through her more than 30 years of horticulture experience. Listeners from across the country find her gardener friendly, practical approach to gardening both refreshing and informative! On this page, Melinda shares some more extensive garden tips, which expand on the information provided in her one-minute radio segments. New tips are added throughout each month, providing timely step-by-step tips on what you need to do next in your garden! Visit Melinda’s website www.melindamyers.com for more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and answers to your questions.
Hollyhock Leaves Riddled with Holes and Spots by Melinda Myers , posted Jul 27 2012 2:31PM

An old fashioned favorite, hollyhock, is easy to grow, but the leaves are often riddled with orange spots and holes. Rust is the cause of orange spots on leaves. Though it looks bad, your plant will survive. A thorough cleanup in fall will help reduce the source of disease next season. The hollyhock weevil eats small irregular holes in the leaves, while Japanese beetles can riddle the leaves with holes eventually skeletonizing them. Knock these pests into a bucket of soapy water to reduce their population and feeding damage. Remove weevil infested seedpods to reduce future infestations. Caterpillars and sawflies can also eat irregular shaped holes in the leaves. Look for them at dusk on the underside of leaves and along the stems and remove any you find. Healthy plants will survive these pests. Consider masking the damaged leaves with shorter nearby plants, while allowing the flowers to shine through. A bit more information: Increase your success controlling rust on hollyhocks by removing rust susceptible weeds like mallow and velvetleaf near the garden. Or replace susceptible plants with the rust resistant Fig-leaved (Alcea ficifolia) or Russian (Alcea rugosa) hollyhocks. For more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com Tags : Topics : Human Interest Back To Blog
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07/27/2012 1:30PM

Hollyhock Leaves Riddled with Holes and Spots

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How To Help Tornado Victims
The tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma, as well the twisters as Kansas and Texas, have killed dozens and left thousands homeless. Officials expect the death toll to rise. Relief efforts are underway. Right now, the best way to help the victims is a donation to major relief organizations. Here is a list of organizations that are accepting donations: American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund: Click HERE to donate online. You can also text REDCROSS to 909999 to immediately donate $10 to the Red Cross Disaster Fund. Phone: 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767); for Spanish speakers, 1-800-257-7575; for TDD, 1-800-220-4095. Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief: The Oklahoma Baptist Convention says says donations will "go straight to help those in need providing tree removal services, laundry services and meals to victims of disasters." For more information, and to donate, visit Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief's website by clicking HERE. You can send checks to: BGCO Attn: Disaster Relief 3800 N. May Ave. Oklahoma City, OK. 73112. Salvation Army - The Salvation Army is deploying mobile kitchens that can serve to 2,500 people a day. Click HERE to donate via their website. You can also text the word STORM to 80888 to make a $10 donation from your mobile phone. You can also donate to the Salvation Army via check: Put the words "Oklahoma Tornado Relief" on the check, and mail to: The Salvation Army P.O. Box 12600 Oklahoma City, OK. 73157. Phone: 1-800-SAL-ARMY (1-800-725-2769). Feeding America - Feeding America says it utilize its 200 foodbanks to deliver food and supplies. Click HERE for their website. Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma - Text the word FOOD to 32333 to donate $10 to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma

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Don't let a lack of time, energy or space stop you from growing perennials. Instead select and grow low maintenance plants with big impact. Start with your design. Once you develop your plan, cut the number of different perennials in half and double the number of each. You will have fewer perennials to identify as they emerge in spring, less maintenance to learn and bigger impact. Edge your beds to keep unwanted grass out of the bed and make managing the surrounding lawn much easier. I dig a small trench around the edge of my gardens and fill with woodchips. Always select plants suited to your climate, soil and natural rainfall. You'll have healthier and more beautiful plants with much less work. Look for perennials that require no staking and little or no deadheading. Avoid those that reseed, are aggressive and do not plant perennials that tend to escape the garden and invade our natural spaces. A bit more information: Use color to help increase the impact without increasing the number of plants. Warm colors of red, orange and yellow grab your attention. Repeat colors, known as color echoing, from one plant to another to provide unity and balance. Use complementary colors, those across from each other on the artist color wheel, like red and green and blue and yellow to create a focal point. For more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com

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Celebrate Clean Air Month – Grow Some Air-Purifying Houseplants
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We get your letters...
What an amazing weekend! First of all, a very big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to Grafton and Mukwonago and waited in line amid cold, windy and rainy conditions for those Wisconsin Dells Season Opener Cards. For me, it is a chance to meet / hang out with YOU the listener and give you goodies! Second, got this letter from our 99.1 The Mix Contact Us forum, from the Dawson family of Port Washington and was truly surprised that my "simple gesture" warranted the following... Question: Your Name: Answer: Michelle Question: Your City: Answer: Port Washington Comments: Yesterday I took my parents to Grafton to wait for season opener cards. It was quite a cold morning. We arrived at 10 because in the past there have been huge lines. My mother is recovering from a recent open-heart surgery. She is a very petite older woman. Van McNeil was interacting with people people in line and I asked him if it would be possible for my mom to going to the bank to warm up. He unexpectedly took my mom's hand and escorted her into the building. He was so kind to her and gave her a hug. He made sure she was warm and dry and took very good care of her. My mom and dad are thrilled to be going to the Dells. Unknown to Van my dad just got out of The hospital last Friday after 4 1/2 weeks of being in. It's been a very rough couple of months for my parents and their health. My mother was just beaming about how nice Van was. I wanted to thank you for the season opener cards which will allow my parents and my family to enjoy a vacation in Wisconsin this summer, and send a special thank you to Van for being so wonderful to my parents. You're welcome and THANK YOU Michelle! Just doing what I do because that's how my mama raised me! Enjoy the Dells! -Van #everylistenermatters

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Year of the Watermelon
Year of the Watermelon The National Garden Bureau has declared 2013 the Year of the Watermelon. Be part of the celebration and consider planting watermelon in this year's garden. Don't let the sweet flavor deceive you – these are nutritious as well as delicious. High in Vitamin C, low in fat and calories - it is a great way to boost your energy. Plus, all parts are edible. You can pickle the rind, eat the fleshy portion fresh or roast or grind the seeds for flavoring. In china they stir fry watermelon while the Russians often pickle it before eating. You may want to try some new ways of enjoying this tasty summer treat. Grow watermelon in full sun and well-drained soils. Save space by growing these plants on a trellis or decorative obelisk. Just secure the heavy fruit to the support with a cloth or macramé sling. Or plant a few seeds in a container and let the vines wander over your balcony or trellis. A bit more information: Try planting one of the large picnic-type watermelons that can weigh 15 to 50 pounds. These are sure to get everyone in the family excited about growing and eating this, the largest edible fruit in the United States. Or perhaps you want to try one of the icebox melons that is much smaller at 5 to 15 pounds and easier to squeeze into the fridge. And don't forget about those with unique colored rinds and flesh and of course those that lack seeds. For more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com

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Clematis Stem Wilt Your clematis looks beautiful until suddenly the stems and leaves start turning black. Though it looks bad your clematis will survive. The fungus that causes this disease enters your plant through wounds and cracks in the stem near ground level. Fortunately new growth arising below this point will be disease free. Reduce future problems by pruning out and destroying infested stems. Disinfect tools between cuts to reduce the risk of spreading this disease. As new growth emerges from the soil carefully secure it to the support to reduce the risk of cracking and damage. Eliminating the entryways for the fungus will reduce the risk of disease. In the future consider planting the crown of the clematis below the soil surface. This allows the plant to produce new shoots below the point of infection. Try growing small flowered clematis that tend to resist this disease. Alpina, macropetala and the viticella types are a few to consider. A bit more information: For a disease to occur you must have the causal organism (fungus, bacteria, virus) present, disease-promoting weather and susceptible plants. Remove one of these factors and you eliminate the disease. Keep this in mind when managing clematis stem wilt and other plant diseases in your garden. For more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com

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Watch for and Prevent Borers on Trees and Shrubs
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If sparse, bare spots or lots of weeds describe your lawn, it is time for a little lawn revival. Start by evaluating the current state of your lawn. If more than 60% is bare or filled with weeds, it is time to start over. Look at this as an opportunity to properly prepare the soil, select a more drought tolerant lawn or convert it into a no mow or low maintenance lawn or planting bed. Overseed thin sparse lawns. Core aerate first or use a slit seeder to insure good seed-to-soil contact. For small bare spots use a lawn patch kit or make your own. Mix a handful of quality grass seed into a bucket of topsoil. Remove any dead grass and roughen the soil surface. Then sprinkle the commercial or homemade lawn patch over the prepared bare spot. Keep the soil moist until the grass seed begins to grow. A bit more information: Larger areas will benefit from the addition of organic matter into the top 6 inches of soil before sowing the grass seed or laying sod. Keep the soil moist until the sod has rooted into the soil below and the grass seed begins to grow. Consider overseeding the lawn to help create a more uniform appearance in the lawn. For more information, click here. For more gardening tips, how-to videos, podcasts and more, visit www.melindamyers.com