Herself’s Houston Garden

While I’d heard a fair bit about leaf miners my first run in with them came this fall on the tomatoes I planted.  You can easily identify the damage.  It looks like someone took a beige marker and drew a squiggly line all over several leaves.  They are especially fond of vegetable crops.

Leaf miners are actually fly larvea.  The feed between the top and bottom of your plant leaves on the inside of the leaf.  As you can imagine this makes it very difficult to do anything about them.

In all but extreme cases they do little damage to the crop and are not something to be overly concerned about.

leaf miner damage

Pteris ensiformus can reach 3′ in height and 3′ across when filled out.

Like most ferns it prefers light shade, high humidity and moist soil. But it will rot in the winter if the soil is too moist, so let it go a bit drier in the winter.

Slender brake will grow in light shade to full shade.

It does not like alkaline soil, so may not do well in Houston. I’m hoping anyhow.

It winters over just fine down here, this has been through two winters now.

I find it to be a very slow grower.

It is the most common ingredient in traditional herbal drinks in Taiwan, being high in phenolic antioxidants. ( I have not tried eating it, nor should you with out further research. ) It is also a plant that causes skin rashes on many people so be careful handling it.

Interestingly when planted in areas high in arsenic this plant uptakes far more arsenic than other plants yet shows no toxicity to the arsenic which makes it a great clean up plant, and gives you another reason not to munch on it with out further research. It is currently considered one of the best clean up plants for areas high in arsenic.

Propagate by dividing clumps.

Things to watch for on ferns:

Leaf scotch: appears during dry, windy weather.  Water frequently and deeply and provide what shade and shelter you can.

Scale: looks like small brown bumps on stems and underside of leaves.  I use orange oil.

Mealy bugs:  Looks like white fuzz on plants.  I just wash them off with a garden hose.

There’s been some talk on the Oleandar Page about leaf scorch spreading here from other areas on leaf hopper insects.

But this is a rose bush, in a bed with three other roses who are doing quite well. The markings of leaf scorch are distinctive. If you see a triangle of brown on the end, surrounded by yellow, that’s definitely leaf scorch. The discoloration of the leaf is caused by a lack of water reaching the edges of the leaf. The causes for the lack of water are not so easily identified. This plant looked like it was wilting a few days ago and the wilt has continued to progress.

We’ve had no serious rain for a long time here. ( see Rainfall map for Harris county to find your rainfall totals by day, week, month.. ) We’ve had 3.5″ of rain in 60 days most of it about 60 days ago. It has also been windier than normal here which also dries out the soil and plants. Leaf scorch usually appears during dry, windy spells.

Other causes of leaf scorch are a lack of roots on your plant from root rot ( over watering ) or lack of drainage ( clay soil ); from a wilt disease such as oak wilt; or from a bacteria spread by insects such as the leaf hopper.

If you see this symptom look for insect damage. Leaf hoppers are very tiny insects. Look on the underside of the leaf to find them. Damage from leaf hoppers on your roses will give the leaves a speckled appearance as if you had splattered yellow paint on your rose leaves. Or it may give your roses a tiny white dots all over the tops of the leaves. It will look like you spilled salt on the leaf. If you have the bacterial leaf scorch you will want to remove that plant as soon as possible to prevent the spread to your other plants. Other nearby plants should be sprayed on the underside of the leaves with an insecticide.

Since we have been in a dry, windy spell and the other three bushes in the bed are fine, I’m going to guess I just need to water more. If you are seeing this be sure you have a few inches of mulch around your plants to hold the water in the soil as long as possible.

More information
Leaf scorch of ornamental trees and shrubs
Bacterial leaf scorch

See also:
Tea Roses

I just acquired this plant from the Mercer Sale a couple of weeks ago.

This is a hybrid Colocasia. It can reach 5′ tall with a 5′ spread. It can tolerate high moisture, so you can use it in damp areas of your yard or in swale gardens. It can be invasive so keep an eye on it. It will also do ok in dry areas and not spread as much. I’m finding that like a Peace Lily it wilts when dry. Try not to let it dry out.  It prefers medium to damp soil.

It will grow in full sun to part shade, doing best with some shade here in Houston.

I tried planting one as a bulb last winter but the bulb turned to mush. The bulbs will rot in cold, wet locations. It is difficult to tell which end of the bulb is which on this plant. When in doubt with a bulb plant it on its side and it’ll send everything in the right direction.

This is a rapidly growing plant, start small it’ll get to full size in one or two seasons.

It does have spathe-like flowers but rarely blooms except in the wild.

It is also used as a root vegetable, like a potato in its native climates. It has been grown as a food source for over 10,000 years.   It was brought over to the US during the slave trade days as a food source for slaves.  Today it is not used much as a food source.

More information:
Floridata: Colocasia esculenta

See also:
Elephant Ears, African Mask