Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of my first dahlia bloom (Wizard of Oz) this season .  Today, comes the second dahlia bloom:  Pablo Gallery.  This is a border dahlia (That means they are much more compact that most other dahlia varieties as they stand just a foot-or-so tall).   Here is the bloom below.  This is a much-shorter stem than the Wizard of Oz cut flower.  And, if you look at the petals, you'll see some pest damage from little buggers nipping at the edges.   I have eight of these planted in three spots - backyard, sideyard and (now) Island bed in front.  

Last year, we had trouble with our Disneyland Roses. Between pests (Sawfly Larvae), diseases (Black Spot and Rust, I think) and drought, the blooms were few and far between. I fed them and treated the foliage with Neem oil, but I'm not sure I was making an impact.  They say that roses are "heavy eaters", so I've been trying to feed them monthly during their growing season the past few years, but I switched over to an "all-in-one" granular product last year.  These "all-in-one" claim to feature three different solutions:  fertilizer, pest control and disease control.    Below is canister of the granular that I recently applied from BioAdvanced named Rose & Flower Care.  The instructions say to use a half-capful of the granular around each rose.  I sprinkled it around the crowns of all five Disneyland roses then used a small rake to work it into the mulch.   Last year, we were showing the first flush of Roses by the end of May .  I'm p...

Earlier this growing season, I discovered that most of our Disneyland Roses were having their foliage destroyed by someone or something.  The leaves were spotted and some of them were eaten-up and looked like lace.  Here's a post from June 2023 that shows one of those eaten-up leaves .   I applied a granular fertilizer all season - starting in early Spring - and I wasn't sure if the foliage damage was a result of the granules clinging to wet leaves, but it seemed far-fetched.   The foliage-eating continued all season, but by July, I decided to take some action and switched from just straight Rose Fertilizer to a 2-in-1 feed and care product from BioAdvance .  My hunch was that SOMETHING was eating the leaves and the 2-in-1 is a 'systemic' product. That means it isn't something that takes root immediately and eliminates the pests.  Rather, it feeds the roses and - via the roots - takes up the insecticide and carries it to all the plant material....