Garden Journal 9/10/2001 Zone 7
I recently gave up the battle to save the pink "wave" petunia from powdery mildew. I picked browning leaves and kept it faithfully deadheaded then trimmed it back but the mildew was just getting worse. SO, I sprayed it with Safers Fungicide and by evening the whole plant looked dead. Pulling it out left a large gap in my front planter. Today I filled the gap with some lamb's ears, a sad pot bound bronze coral-bells and some rooted coleus. It is very hard to find any annuals for sale this time of year despite several months of good weather still expected. If I were smart I would pot up a few spares early in the year for such gaps. Fall blooming crocuses would be great. No one carries them around here. I must order some by mail next year.
The buddleia is blooming in great abundance after getting a couple of doses of Miracle Grow. On my walks I see a lot of neglected buddleias. This plant needs regular dead heading to maintain an anywhere near neat appearance. It is not an attractive bush even at its best and covered with old dead brown blooms it is downright ugly.
I found the first egg case for next year's praying mantis.
Crickets are starting to appear frequently. I catch a few for Cary's frogs when possible.
Need to order or purchase bulbs for the front planter and plant the 'piano tuner' daffodils in the groundcover under the small maple tree.
Bronze fennel is an aggressive spreader with enormous roots. Despite its attractive foliage and the fact that it is the food source for the swallowtail butterfly I am removing great amounts of it. I will save some seed to sprinkle around the local drainage ponds, along with some Joe Pye weed seeds.