Don't turn your back

It doesn't pay to turn your back on happenings in the garden.
I was given a lovely plant with a pink frothy flower that behaved itself in my garden for at least 5 years. But this year, I didn't keep an eye on it until - surprise - it took over most of the flowerbed, choking out nearby irises and black-eyed susans. Its roots formed a mat so dense that I can't put a shovel through it. An organic herbicide turned the leaves brown, but then new green ones popped up. Even Round-Up is not killing it.

My staghorn sumac is finally putting up it's distinctive brown horns for the first time this year. But it's also being attacked by a mysterious culprit that is turning every group of leaves white at the tips. I cut off each blasted tip as the damage appears.

Tent caterpllars moved in on my PG Hydraneas, but I countered with potato dust, and that seemed to do the trick.

If I turn my back on the pests and problems, they won't go away. Sometimes my efforts work to irradicate the problem, and sometimes I'm helpless, like with black tar spot on the maple trees. Maples all over PEI are affected, with black spots turning the leaves crispy and dropping early. I can't save the leaves for compost, because the pathogen will stick around, and we won't have the blazing colour we expect from our maples. It's a lesson in perseverence, but also in patience and acceptance.