"Yuck-a" weevil takes a toll in my garden!

This is a bummer post, just so you know.   A few weeks ago while investigating why a formerly healthy row of Yucca 'Color Guard' plants were suddenly dying from the ground up I discovered holes in the base of the plants.

Agaves and yuccas have been the backbone of my landscape since I began working on this garden in 2009.  After all, they add so much and require almost no attention from the gardener.  Just plant and walk away.   About the only problem I knew of is what I had read in blog posts like "Evil weevils" from Digging on the demise of agaves and related plants from agave snout weevil attacks.  So when I discovered the damage, I knew just what it was.  Snout weevils had bored into the core to lay eggs and their larvae ate the fleshy insides on their way out leaving cavities in the base of the plant from which it cannot recover.  I removed the infected plants and surrounding soil, placed them all in tightly closed trash bags and deposited it all in the trash.

Before, we had three cheerful matching Yucca 'Color Guard' looking great along the driveway

After, not so great.

Surveying the rest of the garden I found several soft-leaf yuccas (Yucca recurvifolia) looked yellow around the base and literally broke off in my hands as I checked them.  This meant I had to take fast action.  Following the advice I found in Pam's post and verified through other sites we began to treat all agaves and yuccas with a systemic insecticide from Bayer with the trade name "Merit."  I rarely reach for the bug killer, but these plants represent a huge investment in time and money.  You can read more about the product at Tropical Texana.  Early spring is apparently prime time for infestation and the best time to use a systemic is in advance so I'm not sure how effective a late spring/early summer treatment will be.

It wasn't long before I noticed the sudden decline of one Beschorneria in a pot by the garage and found larvae holes in the base.  Oh no, not the Beschoneria!  Oh yes, it's toast.

At this point I found the larvae and a few weevils or beetles in the soil.  Warning:  Ugly scenes ahead!

Telltale holes in the base.  How supposedly flightless insects found their way up into a 20" tall pot is a mystery.



Rotten core

While I didn't capture any weevils, I found larvae.



For some reason the other Beschorneria is fine.  Since these were matching planters on each side of the door and I won't purchase another Beschorneria I'll move the remaining plant elsewhere.  Then I'll need to find something else for these pots.  I trimmed those yellow leaves after this photo.

And onward we go into the back garden where I have had to remove all my Manfreda 'Macho Mocha' and surrounding soil.  Is it the work of the actual Yucca or Agave Weevil?  Must be, I was too busy stomping and squishing to take an ID photo of the culprit but we noted two different types of beetles in the soil around the affected plants.  Manfreda 'Macho Mocha'  is described on websites I read as being particularly susceptible.

Larvae still wriggling in the core

This is not a Yucca weevil which is less shiny has a pronounced snout but it was in the soil as we pulled out plants.  Perhaps an opportunist taking advantage of holes drilled by another beetle.  I couldn't get a good look at the other darker beetle or see the snout.

Another Yucca recurvifolia in the crevice garden is toast.  One positive note is native Manfreda maculosa and Yucca rupicola or Twist-leaf yucca plant seem to be unaffected so far.  Fortunately a coveted Manfreda 'Chocolate Chips' Pam shared with me from her garden this spring had been potted up and placed inside the sunny screened porch and is just fine.  Not that pots are a barrier since the Beschoneria was in a pot but I think the combination of being on the enclosed porch and in a pot seems to have helped save it so far.

We're not done yet.  While checking the crevice garden for more yucca damage I noticed  Agave 'Blue Glow' had telltale signs of yellowing bottom leaves.

Even though most websites ID the Agave weevil as different from the Yucca weevil, there seems to be no difference in the damage.  Either I have both types or they are indiscriminate.

Ewww!



More plants and soil into the trash.

So now my agaves are under attack and I just brought home a new Agave Cornelius which will need to be protected.  Agaves are slow-growing so the chances they will take in enough systemic during summer's heat to ward off attacks from borers are slim but I will continue to treat and check.  And hope I have eradicated the little (bleeps).  At least I read they slow down in the summer.

Agave 'Blue Glow' with Bluebonnets in happier days.  We will miss this plant which was a favorite in the crevice garden.

How did these bugs get here?  Did I bring this culprit home from the nursery?  I have no idea.  All affected plants have been in the landscape for at least three years.  Since my only recent agave or yucca purchases are unaffected, I'm fairly certain it didn't hitch a ride to my garden from a nursery.   However it got here, there will be no more soft-leaf yuccas, manfredas, or agave relatives added to the garden for a while.

Resolving this issue may take years considering the massive numbers of beetles across our entire property.  Given the size of this infestation and the rapid takeover it's unlikely I could have stopped it unless I had been proactively feeding insecticide to my plants for the last year or two.  Drenching soil with systemic insecticide "just in case" is simply not the way I garden.

It's not easy watching so much of our planning, work, and enjoyment of the garden unceremoniously pitched in the trash bin.  Even as I continue to dig out plants and soil, I'm already moving past this and thinking what to do.   Summer heat is upon us now so I'll take some time and decide what to replace all those missing plants with.  I was so happy with the way things looked that it's hard to imagine not having these softer forms of spiky plants in prominent spots.  Some plants are less susceptible than others and I'll compile a list which will more than likely include a few of these Agave schidigera 'Shira ito no ohi' which seems less susceptible to the weevil.

Besides that, this plant just makes me smile.

Guest Posting at Garden Style San Antonio

When my friend Heather at San Antonio Water System (SAWS) contacted me about writing a guest post for their website Garden Style San Antonio I didn't hesitate to say yes.  Garden Style San Antonio has been an an excellent resource for watersaving garden ideas and I'm excited to have my first guest post published on the site today.  If you garden in San Antonio or Central Texas, you will enjoy browsing their extensive plant lists with photos, design ideas, seasonal reminders for tasks in the garden and the latest on SAWS watersaver coupons.

Another reason I was happy to guest post for SAWS is my article highlights the stars of my winter garden--agaves, cacti, and succulents.  Lawn is not the only welcoming option for a front yard, these plants have led to many compliments from passersby and opportunities to chat with neighbors over the years.  Planned about six years ago with the idea that our front landscape would look much the same year round with minimal maintenance, we've achieved our goal.  Mid-January is an excellent time to check out our plan.  With a silvery foundation of drought-tough agaves, grasses, and evergreens like Texas Mountain Laurel, all anchored by native Live Oaks, the front garden needs only a few tweaks each year to keep it looking great.



Any post highlighting agaves in my garden must begin with Agave Ovatifolia, the focal point of the front drive.  Heather knew I wouldn't turn down a chance to write about this beauty!  Damianita at its feet have just finished blooming.

Upright and comparatively small Agave neomexicana provides a focal point in the narrow island.  There are two offsets emerging and I can't wait to plant those out in the garden when they're ready.

Tough agaves and yucca add form and structure while echoing the silvery color theme throughout the front garden.  The narrow leaves in the middle belong to a small Yucca rostrata.

A special variety of native Yucca rupicola features gold-edged silvery leaves.  Color Guard Yucca in the right foreground picks up the the gold and green theme against a background of native Salvia greggii.

Golden Barrel cactus (foreground) needs little care to look its best in this tough spot along the driveway.

And here they are close up.



Fishhook barrel cactus continues to produce bright magenta blooms during our mild winter.

Another welcoming garden near the front walk is in the works.  Deer resistant Wooly Stemodia will eventually make a silvery carpet for small agaves placed here.

Agave Victoria-reginae grows slowly so it's a great choice for small spaces.

Opuntia Santa-Rita and Color Guard Yucca add winter color on the north side of the driveway.

Around back the crevice garden holds a sunny slope where little would grow previously.  

It's a perfect spot for more small agaves, grass-like nolina, yucca, and cacti nestled into pea gravel.  By the way, those low-growing green plants in the gravel are wildflowers, not weeds.

My favorite here is Agave 'Blue Glow' in the left hand corner (above).  Below it's shown with a backdrop of Texas Blubonnets from last spring.

Agave angustifolia picks up the silvery theme in the narrow side yard.

Agaves, cacti, and succulents keep my garden looking its best year round.  I'll have an opportunity to write more posts for Garden Style San Antonio this year and I'm looking forward to sharing my San Antonio garden adventures with you.  Be sure enter your email on the front page of the Garden Style San Antonio site to keep up with the best of San Antonio gardening.

Late Spring Garden Walk-Through

This has been a most amazing spring.  After several years of drought we've had plenty of rain and cooler than average temperatures.  Everything looks so good it's time for another tour before it all fades in summer's heat.

We'll start out at the street where the Salvia greggii are beginning to fade and the Yucca 'Color Guard' will bloom soon with the skeletons of Yucca recurvifolia bloom stalks in the background.  Last year each plant had only one stalk this year there are three on one, two on another and just one on the front plant which seems to be struggling to bloom again this year.

Foliage Follow-up November 2014

While I was out yesterday getting bloom photos I decided to go for two and capture the mist on my foliage plants for Foliage Follow-up sponsored by Pam at Digging.  Those of you who live in perennially damp climates are probably laughing yourselves silly by now.  We average about 30 inches of rain a year which usually arrives in downpours just a few days a year and within a few hours it's dry out there again.  A series of rainy days or a light mist/drizzle day is rare.  Even if you find my misty wonderment hilarious I hope you will enjoy these views of my garden.

The shiny droplets on the Yucca recurvifolia look almost frosty in the chilly mist.  A predicted freeze last week never arrived.  We have another freeze warning for Tuesday morning and it might happen this time so the tender plants are protected.

Before and After: Replacing a weedy patch with a new garden

It's getting hot out there now and with work in the garden slowing down it's time for an update on recent projects.  The first is in the back yard near the circle garden.  Last year this sloped area next to the fence sported a patch of weedy groundcover surrounded by wildflowers.  Not the best, but we had other fish to fry back then.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day May 2014

It's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and time to share the plants blooming in my garden.  It's been a very dry spring in San Antonio but substantial rains in the last few days are helping out quite a bit.

The biggest and best bloom surprises are these Color Guard Yuccas planted just over two years ago, which are sporting their first ever blooms.  With more than 10 hours of direct sun a day during summer months these plants have grown to nearly four feet diameter in a very short time.  The third bloom was caught on a leaf and is lagging behind.  I will look forward to these creamy, bell-shaped beauties each year from now on.

End of Month View April 2014

I look forward to looking back.  What?  I mean looking back at changes in the garden over the past month which why I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for the End of Month View for April.

We haven't had much rain yet this year but spring has brought a nice green-up and most plants have recovered from the exceptionally cold winter by now.

More Spring Blooms and Happy Easter!

Sometimes one bloom post per week isn't enough, especially in the spring.  Almost as soon as I finished my post for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day more blooms appeared in the garden that I just had to share.

The gorgeous light coral cactus blooms have returned in the front agave bed.  I have identified them as a type of hedgehog cactus although I can only find one photo other than mine on the internet with this color bloom.  Last year there were two blooms at once in the spring and this year three have appeared with a fourth in progress.  In the background a hardy aloe is also blooming.

End of Month View February 2014

Let's face it.  January and February were a gardening disaster this year.  So where are we now?  I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for End of Month View.

February is typically a time of big changes in the garden when we South Texans try to beat the heat with big projects and plant moves.  But February started off gray, cloudy and cold.  Here is the view of the front yard in early February.

Foliage Follow-up August 2013

Foliage Follow-up is hosted by Pam Penick at her blog Digging  for bloggers to highlight our garden foliage on the 16th of each month.  For August I'm featuring blooming plants without blooms and a selection of plants doing well in our high summer heat.

How will that plant look in the heat of August?  That's a question I often ask when selecting new plants. August is not typically a great bloom season in my garden and it's a time when the foliage itself needs to shine.

That doesn't mean blooming plants are out of the picture.

The scene this morning in my front yard.  Many of these plants produce blooms throughout the year but are not blooming now yet they still add to the landscape and I enjoy the subdued colors in this part of the garden.  Earlier this week I trimmed the last fading flowers from the Salvia greggii (in the foreground) and gently shaped them into mounds so they will look good through the next few weeks before being covered with blooms again this fall.  I've also trimmed the lantana (farther back along the driveway island and walk) to prepare for fall blooms.

Mild winter brings plenty of March blooms to the garden

In our warm climate we don't wait for April showers.  Signs of spring are all around the yard this week and quite a few blooms are springing up.

Texas Mountain Laurel, a favorite native plant, is blooming out in the front yard
 

Foliage Follow-Up February 2013: Foliage makes the winter garden

For Foliage Follow-Up, sponsored by Pam at her blog Digging, I'm focusing on winter foliage in my front garden.  At this point in the winter is when the work we've done over the last few years pays off in the front garden. It's also the time when the garden is at its dullest.  It's not so dull this year.   The driveway plantings were completed last summer with year round interest in mind.  The salvias aren't blooming but they are green so it looks good and not too different from any other season of the year.

Foliage Follow-up: Gold Mound Duranta Brightens a Shady Corner

It's the 16th of November and time for Foliage Follow-up when bloggers highlight foliage in our gardens.

My pick for this month is the bright Gold Mound Duranta (Duranta Erecta 'Gold Mound') in the front yard.

Bright and Spiky for Foliage Follow-up

Today is Foliage Follow-up when Pam at Digging hosts blogger posts on foliage in our gardens the day after Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

Fall is the best time to get new plants in the ground and an opportunity to move plants that aren't working.  That's just what we did yesterday by replacing an existing Dasylerion wheeleri with this new Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge'.  The change certainly brightened up the mailbox strip.

D. Wheeleri, with its sphereical form of spiky foliage. is a favorite of mine but this one didn't work here.  It blended in too much, didn't grow well, and never looked quite right so it's been relocated to the back yard.

Here's the 'before' with the D. Wheeleri in the left foreground.

Now the "after' with the new Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge' in place.

Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge' is similar to the existing Yucca filamentosa 'Color Guard'  with thinner leaves and the reverse variegation showing more green which which works well with existing plants like the Golden Barrel cactus (Echinocactus grunsonii) without being too much the same.

The Color Guard yuccas planted last spring have grown more than expected this summer and brighten both sides of the driveway and across the front adding spots of color when the salvias are not blooming.  The new Y. filamentosa is in the back right across the driveway.

The 'Color Guard' yuccas continue on the other side of the driveway where they are joined with a silvery agave, soft leaf yucca, another golden barrel cactus, and Texas native purple prickly pear cactus (Opuntia macrocentra Santa-rita 'Tubac').  Of course all these selections were designed to coordinate with the yellow street sign.  Do you think the city would notice if I repainted the pole to a creamy yellow?

Here's a better look the purple hue of the prickly pear which has become more intense as a cool front passed through this week.

These changes gave me the chance to try out my new wide-angle lens.  Previously it been a challenge to get an overall view of the yard since I had to break it into three photos each time.  With the new lens I can get more in the picture.

Here's the front hellstrip showing how the new yucca on the left fits in.  I could step back farther into the neighbor's yard, but the details get smaller. You can always click on a photo to enlarge it.
 

For more blog posts highlighting foliage in their gardens, check out the links in the comments section of Pam's blog Digging.

Driveway Landscaping Completed

Cross another big project off the list -- the driveway landscaping is done!

Foliage Follow-Up April 2012- Funny Face

Foliage Follow-Up is sponsored by Pam Penick at her blog Digging.  On the 16th of each month garden bloggers follow up Garden Blogger's Bloom Day with a post sharing foliage from our gardens.

For April I'm featuring my face planter.  This spring I planted her with color guard yucca and cordyline for a colorful tropical look.

When I spotted this face planter last fall at Hill Country Gardens I just had to have it.

Before deciding how to fill it I had a little fun trying out a few different hairstyles.  The first thought was that an ornamental grass would be fun in there so I tried a few.

Pine Muhly

Phormium, New Zealand Flax

Definitely boring, not what I had in mind.

I kept a pot of pothos in there for a few months.  Looks like a silly take on the classic laurel wreath or a giant chia pet.

Speaking of laurel, the bay laurel tree.  Different.  Hmmm, there's a problem though.  The back of the planter slopes so the wine cork mulch would roll off.

 
No wonder tropical color was the winner which is currently in my front yard, adding a bright spot and not matching much else there.

I originally purchased these plants for other spots in the garden and will need to transplant the yucca eventually. What's next?  Could be flowers in her hair or a beehive....so many possibilities.

Join Pam at Digging and other garden bloggers as we share foliage from our gardens.