Lavender,Verbascum and Lupins.

We have recently moved to a house with a garden after many years living in a flat, so we are indeed novice gardeners.
The Lavender we planted two months ago after initially doing well has now wilted.
Also the lupins and verbascums we planted when we arrived have been eaten quite badly. What are the causes and how do we fix them??
Thanks

 

I can only comment on the lupins which I have.

I have had two major pests this year. Slugs and Snails - search snails and it will bring up various threads on how to control these. Personally after 18 months of trying organic methods (collecting hundreds of the beggars daily) I have found the only way to really get on top of them in my garden is to use slug pellets.

After getting on top of this problem I nearly lost my lupins to lupin aphid. It will be obvious if this the the problem as you will be able to see hundreds of them on the plant if you look up close. again after trying organic methods, washing them off daily etc the only way I could save my plants was by using provado bug spray which has worked a treat.

I am hoping they make it next year though Lupins can be troublesome as the slugs and snails are straight back at them in the spring. Some lupins are only annuals and some people treat the perenials as annuals as they are tough to hang on to. They are easy to grow from seed and fairly cheap as plants so you can just put some new ones in next year.

Not sure on the others I am afraid.

Congratualtions on your new garden. We only got a garden a couple of years ago and now I love it!

 

Hi TheNovices, and welcome to GC.
I don't know about the Lavendaer either but I agree with elliegw about your Lupins - slugs & snails LOVE them! And there is a particular type of aphid that Lupins are prone to, it might be Wooly Aphid. I use Provado also, it's good stuff.
I'm thinking don't worry too much because your flowering perrenials will be dying back at this time of year anyway.

 

Hi Bekimac - it's not wooly aphids, though I also have that problem elsewhere :rolleyes: . I think the Aphids are actually called Lupin Aphid and they are falrly new in this country (from America apparently) They are larger than normal aphids and as I understand it are not eaten by the usual predators. - hence the need to control with spray. I found that they were relentless and it got to the point where all the stems were splitting and I really was going to lose the plants if I did not take action. They still look a bit sick but I am hoping they'll come back next year, if the snails don't get them first!

EGW