Neem Oil to the Rescue

I've had my share of patio pot failures over the years but this summer, I have had the worst possible luck -- with a couple of notable exceptions: The crossandra plants I brought back from Texas seem completely immune to disease and have never stopped blooming. They have grown considerably and look so nice and healthy, with no effort whatsover on my part.

 

My hanging lantana baskets have also done quite well, while the lantana in a pot struggled and is finally coming back. Check out that beautiful black swallowtail! We've had a ton of butterflies this summer which makes me very happy!

 

Other than those plants and a handful of others, the patio pot season has been a dismal and perplexing failure. I have replaced many annuals and thrown out even more. As an example, every single plant on this baker's rack died. I still have basil and rosemary but both are replacement plants.

 

 You know it's bad when I don't even have pictures of the plants I had to toss...I was too angry and upset to even document the situation. Most of the plants seemed to start with brown/dried leaves around the stem base which progressed -- unstoppably -- to kill the entire plant. In pots with more than one type of annual, only the flowering annual was affected. In this pot, the pink spotted foliage is still doing fine. Here's one photo I happened to take.

 

The dragonwing begonias that were so spectacular last year didn't grow much at all after planting them. Last year's plants were ridiculously easy to care for and I couldn't wait to have them again! This photo is from last fall.

Unfortunately, this year's begonias were a total flop, even though they came from the same place, were planted in the same pots and placed in the same spot. They barely grew after I planted them and eventually withered and died, even though I cared for them in the same way as last year. The hanging baskets also succumbed to a similar plight. The two hostas are the only plants I have left on the front step. I'd like to get some mums, but do I dare???

My three hibiscus plants started out strong but then nearly succumbed to something which made the buds fall off and the leaves yellow. I tried watering them more, watering them less, more sun, less sun, fungicide, pesticide...nothing was working and I was on the verge of throwing them out.

In desperation, I tried treating them with with Neem Oil I had on hand from last summer and to my complete delight, all three have completely recovered. I only wish I'd thought to try Neem Oil on the other plants.

 

At this point, I've got just a few of the pots I started with but, thanks to Neem Oil, they're all doing well.

Here's hoping my success with Neem Oil might help out a fellow struggling gardening friend!