suej

Ninebark problems: I am a volunteer at MSU Tollgate in Novi. Their Ninebark Diablo that has been in the Castle Demo garden in the big parking lot, is basically dead. I was shocked to see it last season, obviously in distress. There are a lot of suckers coming from the base. I did recommend to Roy that it should be just dug up and disposed of. Maybe as others have commented, the drought we had had and a problem with the water sprinkler set up, may be the culprit. Question now in this NW facing garden of shrubs and grasses, what to replace it with? The water system has been extended and upgraded, so if another Ninebark variety is planted it may be fine. In my own yard, a large transplanted Ninebark Diable to a neighbor's yard didn't fair well. I think the culprit there is not enough watering and maybe not enough roots taken when transplanted. I transplanted a Copper Glow Ninebark to a south facing garden 2 years ago, and with more watering the first season, has settled in nicely. I bought a Amber Jubilee last spring due to all the hype about the tricolor leaves of orange/yellow/ red. When I bought it, it had those leaf colors. I was soon disappointed as the summer wore on. So much for a nice color contrast to the green Arborvitae behind it, that ninebark faded into the garden. Another fellow gardener bought an Amber Jubille last season too and is also disappointed in it. On one website, it says the 'new' growth only in spring has those colors, later it is a 'dull green'. My neighbor bought a 'Lady in Red' compact Ninebark and it did retain the reddish leaf color.

I have had a Ninebark Diablos for at least 10 years and probably longer. I do prune out the older branches. I encountered some dead older branches last year. I just pruned them out. The shrub always blooms and looks great. I have it in a west facing bed. I also have a Copperglow Ninebark that was dug up and transplanted in our south bed which hardly gets watered. I did water it regularly in May and June and then sporadically after that. It bounced back and is doing just fine there. I plan on buying the relatively new Amber Jubillee smaller shrub this spring for one of our back gardens. I also have a native Ninebark I bought from WIldtype Nursery 2 years ago. It shot up pretty tall last summer and bloomed. I pruned off the 2 horizontal branches that were close to the ground to keep a more vertical shape. NInebark shrubs I have found are great easy care drought tolerant shrubs.

News on my 2 Blue Muffin Arrow wood viburnums. As a friend suggested, just wait maybe the shrubs aren't dead. There are now leafs back on the shrubs. Yesterday I noticed a few have some holes in them again.I am going to try the suggestion on the MSU website and prune off the branches that show the evidence of eggs and see if that lessens the damage next spring. I don't like using pestisides in the garden and spraying the undersides of the leaves with the suggested Bayer tree and shrub solution sounds messy. If that doesn't work to give me back a healthier flowering and berries on the shrubs, I think I will plant a native red chokeberry instead. My other option is a Ilex Verticillata native MI holly in their place. On another note, I discovered the rosette disease on my Jennie Lajoi climbing rose I purchased many years ago from Nancy Lindley Great Lakes Roses. Bummer, so another plant succumbs to one of the diseases attacking our plants.

Thanks for the info and the website. Frustrating when you want to plant native and help the songbirds with food and a invasive non-native pest wreaks havoc on our native viburnums. My two Arrowoodd now have only brown stems and no sign of life. Looks like they are dead. Back to looking for another berry producing shrub. So far a friend suggested the Nannyberry V.lentago which survived in her yard. A friend from Signal Mtn TN suggested a Beautyberry shrub, but it is a zone 6 plant. I don't know if it would survive in Michigan.

I have 2 Blue Muffin cultivars. It seemed one time I looked at them last week and they had green leaves. Now, one looks dead with sparse leaves that look skeletonized and brown. The other one has more leaves which in the last couple of days have turned brown and skeletonized. They were healthy last year flowered and had berries. They only showed minimal chewing by the viburnum beetle, I am guessing? I was thinking of buying 2 more of these native cultivar shrubs for the birds and for spring flowers and fall color. Now, I am re-thinking that idea. Help!

As I am in my 60s and an aging gardener, I have looked at my large back beds that now overwhelm me. I have decided to plant more 3 season flowering shrubs, conifers, and easy care grasses with some easy care perennials here and there. There are native plants and shrubs that can be used along with non-natives. I am also planning on increasing my use of ground covers to cut down on the weeds this year. My favorite grasses are Karl Forester, native Little Bluestem, and native Prairie Dropseed. There are many flowering small shrubs with good fall color that your mother can use. Good luck in your gardening transition journey with your mom. You might want to make a section of her garden in memory of your dad with the things he made around it with plants and flowers. I wish I had made some raised beds instead of the mounded variety which would have been easier on the back. There are also a lot of ergonomic garden tools out there that your mom can use. I like my Step2 kneeler/seat combo to garden. Suej