Curley, I have noticed that many of my plants seem to be ‘seasonally confused’ this year - especially first year perennials. Perhaps the temp and precip swings were just too extreme.
I would do as Bossybaby says - leave the lavender be for now, hopefully they will make a better showing next year.
The great thing about gardening: Hope springs eternal, there’s always next year!
not only about gardening.
OK, not a problem needing help, but the Casa Blanca lilies are in full bloom…the whole shebang is 70cm tall (!!)
Thanks, BelgianMum, I forgot this thread existed.
It took me a while to find even though I was sure I’d remembered the name correctly, the search function here can be quite temperamental at times.
Wow. That’s stunning. I’m not really one for flowers, but those are rather nice.
I can heartily recommend these lilies. I got them from Verberghe in NL about 8 years ago. They are fed twice (spring/summer) with plain old Blaukorn and sprayed with pyrethrin once or twice before setting buds, to discourage lily beetles that damage the blooms. That’s the only care I give them, and they’ve bloomed profusely every year. Each bloom is 20cm in diameter…and the perfume!
A question for those with more experience in Switzerland: our canton has announced the presence of Japanese beetles (and imposed a series of measures designed to limit their spread). If I find them on my plants, does anyone know of a safe way of dealing with them other than picking them off by hand and drowning them in soapy water? In America I gather some recommend “Bacillus thuringiensis galleriae” but it’s not something I’ve come across before.
Bt products are widely used in the US. They do work, but they are tricky to use. Btg is great for active insects, but they must be feeding on the plants you have treated in order for them to eat enough of the bacteria to be effective. That means you lose some plant material. Treating for grubs requires a different tactic, as the grubs are most effectively treated when they are at shallow points in the soil, not when they have matured and dug deeper.
@wonkywellies, a further thought. I’ve been using pyrethrin (derived from chrysanthemums) on my lily beetles. Guess what? It is effective for Japanese beetles, if it’s sprayed directly on them. It biodegrades rapidly, so if you target-spray beetles, it will have minimal effect on beneficial insects. As I’ve never seen Japanese beetles here, I didn’t know. You can find it anywhere in garden centres.Natural Japanese Beetle Killer With Pyrethrin | Benefits & Application - Greenify Genius
In line with my attempts to keep waste to a minimum, I’m using a bucket in the kitchen to catch clean water (used to wash veggies and glasses) for the flower pots. We really need to champion grey water!! The Belle of Barmera dahlia that I started in the kitchen before Kalte Sophie is covered with buds. This salmon watercolour dinnerplate is over 20cm (!). As sometimes happens, the amaryllis have got confused, thinking they’re in their native Mexico, and are blooming now instead of at Christmas.
I uuess you are in Canton Zug then they’ve banned watering of private and public lawns until the end of September. (I guess they can’t do much if it rains).
I had a huge green insect in my livingroom last night, it was crawling up and down the wall above the TV unit, then it jumped on to a picture frame. I’m terrified of insects and as OH had gone to bed early I ended up zapping it with one of those tennis racket electrocution devices. I still have no idea what it was, I squished it in kitchen paper and put it in the bin 
I am in the buffer zone, so I’m not supposed to water the grass, but I believe I’m still allowed to water the shrubs next to the grass. Anybody know for certain?
I never water the grass - it’s enough to try to keep the trees from shriveling up.
I think you can water anything by hand, i.e. No hose.
It was probably a grasshopper.
This is the official link: Japankäfer im Kanton Zug: Flugzeit hat begonnen – Massnahmen zur Eindämmung treten in Kraft
And autotranslate of the third paragraph gives this: No irrigation of lawns and green areas in the infestation centre
„The suspension of irrigation of lawns is one of the few measures currently available to combat the larvae of the Japanese beetle in the soil. The larvae need a certain soil moisture for their development. With increasing dryness of the soil, the probability of survival of the larvae decreases significantly. Therefore, the irrigation of lawns and green areas is prohibited. Watering flowers and vegetables in the garden as well as watering potted plants, if they are kept grass-free, is still unproblematic.“
Like you I havent been watering the lawn and only one of my pots contains ornamental grass; I guess I’ll be finding a new plant for that next year.
Found out it was a Katydid, I’d never seen one before.
It’s suspected people in Basel may be bringing them back in their luggage if they’ve been on holiday. It was in the news the other week. Basel has had a lot of problems with them.I think it was last year they had to fell a lot of trees as the beetles had stripped the bark.
I woke up with one of those on my face a couple of summers ago. It was the Karate-meets-breakdancing championships in the bedroom. I didn’t need much caffeine to get me started that day!
