Week 16 - Year 1: And Then There Were None

Like the character's in Dame Christie's epic thriller, my plants are dropping off like flies. This is probably not surprising as we are reaching the end of summer and transitioning torwads fall. This month my plants have battled with being indoor refugees, humidity, weird infestations, dropping nighttime temps, heavy winds, downpours and extreme changes between dry and humid air. Needless to say, not all of them have made it. Here's an update on the latest casualties:

Browallia

Sadly, it looks like these guys got the bug infestation. They began wilting and turning brown in early August and finally gave up the fight mid month. I left the roots in the container because browallia is supposedly a perennial. However, if it died from a disease, it may not come back at all and/or infect my other plants, so it is a catch 22. I think I will have to quarantine it over winter. I am still watering it though with winter in mind.

Sunflowers

These guys barely made it a week! They just wilted and never recovered. I had planted them in the container that was previously inhabited by the now departed campagnula, which had the little white flecks all over it and in its soil. We thoroughly cleaned the container, but apparently it wasn't enough because I found the same white flecks in the sunflower's soil. It's depressing to lose these guys so fast.

Begonias

Early this week, I discovered that half of the begonias had basically given up. It looks like the plant got too heavy for its stem and just keeled over. Fortunately, 1/3 of the plant was still standing up right so it is not totally dead. I was able to salvage the other 2/3 as cut flowers to enjoy at the office.

Week 14 - Year 1: Suicidal Lobelia?

The PGA players are not the only ones being affected by the wild Wisconsin weather this week. We have had a nasty combination of humidity, blinding fog, excessive heat and torrential rain. This has spelled disaster for some of my flowers, especially the newbies who are still trying to get situated in their new environments (a.k.a. the sunflower hybrid has basically wilted).

However, one of our veterans took even more drastic measures in response to the conditions. The right container decided that life was no longer worth living this week and took a header off the deck. Literally, the lobelia, nierembergia, soil, window box and window box hanger took a dive off the deck after some heavy winds. Fortunately, no one below was hit by the falling missile, and the results were pretty funny.

After retrieving the fallen window box, my husband felt the lobelia must have been after a Darwin Award (Darwin Awards are given to people that make the biggest spectacle out of trying to remove themselves from the gene pool in the most idiotic way possible). Apparently, the lobelia decided that taking a header off the deck was not enough, and also managed to throw itself another three feet from the box when it landed. I've since replanted both, and the lobelia still seems bound and determined to die, so we may have to let it go. The nierembergia seems to have survived it's little joy ride and is probably hoping that its next box mate has less suicidal tendencies than the lobelia.