Plus, his pick for butterfly-loving Plant of the Week.
Question Of The Week
Evildoers have taken over my azaleas.
Weird looking black and yellow caterpillars with red heads are eating all the leaves.
Why did they pick my azaleas here in Georgia?
How can I send them packing?
Grumpy Gardener Answer:Now, what you have on yourazaleasare pests.
They are caterpillars and surprisingly enough, they’re called azalea caterpillars.
And they eat azaleas and they also eat blueberries.
There’s several different ones, you might use Sevin, Malathion, or one called Triazicide.
And don’t worry, the leaves will grow back.
They won’t kill the plant.
It just takes off a lot of the foliage.
Now, this plant starts off as a clump of thin grassy leaves at the base.
Now, how do you grow these?
It could not be really much easier.
Just give them sun and about any well-drained soil is fine.
Just remember their name Blazing Star.
But it is a really nice plant.
It has no pest- problems.
And it’s really, really pretty.
About Ask Grumpy
Ask Grumpyis a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known asSouthern LivingsGrumpy Gardener.
