Garden Status

The plants are getting to be very thick now, and I keep finding more new stalks that need to be staked up.

We’ve had some rain but it’s still really hot and humid. The plants are producing more buds and flowers are opening, but a lot of them still wilt early or end up malformed.

There’s also the beetles to deal with. The first waves seem to be over with and I rarely find them on the leaves at night, but Japanese beetles still occasionally fly in and chew up the blooms themselves.

On the plus side, some of the stalks that were damaged earlier this month are recovering. For example this large Kabloom stalk completely snapped off fairly close to the ground, but has sprouted two more stalks that are growing pretty well.

I don’t see mantids that often but they’re definitely still around, such as this shed indicating the presence of a fairly large one, and a smaller one spotted hiding in another plant.