My Poor Marigolds

We used to have a crabapple tree on our front lawn. The crabapple was affected by carpenter ants and was weakening. It broke my heart to see it come down, as each spring we had beautiful pink flowers on it. I was reminded, each time I looked at the tree, of my dear father-in-law, who passed away a few years back. He trimmed the tree back one year for us. I cried when I saw how much of the tree was cut away! He assured me that it would come back even nicer, but I didn’t believe him. But the tree did come back, and it was lovelier than ever! My FIL was right.

This spring, I asked my husband to dig up a circular area surrounding the stump so that I could plant some flowers. I decided to plant white marigolds. My brother picked up a flat for me at the Burpee outlet. I planted the marigolds, added a garden gnome and a solar light to the stump, and watched the marigolds come to life. They were beautiful! Until about 2 weeks ago, that is. The plants stopped producing new flowers, the leaves started to turn black, and now the marigolds look like someone took a flamethrower to them! They are nothing but black skeletons! I could cry. I’m not sure what happened to them, but I suspect that either some kind of fungus or maybe simply too much rain at once brought about their demise. I’ll have to have them cut down now. I don’t know if there is still time to plant something else in their place, and I’m not even sure if that is a good idea or not. But right now, my front lawn looks like Morticia Addams’ flower garden! If I have any gardening friends out there, maybe you can let me know what might have happened to my marigolds. If it was a fungus, can you tell me whether I should add something to the soil before planting new flowers there? It might be getting close to the time when mums might be a good choice. I welcome your comments!

Comments

  1. I was going to say plant mums too.

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  2. Hi!

    Sorry to hear about that. Do you have a Tree or Flower Nursery in your area? Ask them what it is since they are in your area. Hope that helps a little.

    ~ Susan

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  3. I wish I could help...I'll be staying tuned to see what the experts tell you. I have a sneaking suspicion it might be what happened to the blooming vine on my back fence...Moticia Addams, that made me laugh out loud! I love how she used to cut the roses from the stems, toss the buds, and put the thorny stems in a vase!!! ;)

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  4. Hi Jeannie! I am so sorry to hear about your flowers. I believe I've mentioned I don't have the greenest thumb! I try real hard, but it's nothing more than a roll of the dice for me. I'm happy to say my african violet,which I posted about with a Barbie doll some time back, is actually blooming a second time! This is a wonderful thing for me!!.. Still no flowers on my Christmas cactus.. You win some, you lose some, I guess. I have to agree with Shana though. What farm work I have experience with, I do know Mums are a very hearty plant!.. That's what they always SAID anyways!

    Recently, I was invited to play a little blog game, so I posted about that today. Knowing the reader that you are, I invited you to play along. So come on over, when you can, to check it out, and play along if you'd like! Actually, I see no reason why you couldn't use the Kindle! (0; ~tina

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