The Japanese Beetles didn't get this one!

Bonica Rose

You can count on roses for a second life in the garden.  They bloom again in late August to bring colour back to the to their expansive green bushes. For a while I thought the Japanese beetles would decimate all the roses, but they seem to had died off considerably and I can once again enjoy the blossoms. They ate the leaves of all sorts of plants including birch, climbing hydrangea, calla lilies,  and the blossoms of the sweet pea and Rose of Sharon. What pests!  I can see why people yank out their roses.  But I guess they would still eat all the other things I listed - so drowning in soapy water is the only solution.

What happened?  This beautiful full urn was turned into a scraggly  mess after just 3 days of neglect. 

What happened to the impatients this year? I still have some beautiful urns, but a few have gone from lush to leggy and embarrassingly barren in just a few days.  They are not worth resurrecting since the end of the season is so near. I heard that Oakville cancelled its garden tour for Sept 25, due to the drought this summer.  People's gardens suffered.  For the most part my perennials did well, and I will share more pictures in the following days.