I sowed my first batch of seeds this week. It felt good to be playing in the dirt again, even if it was in my dark and dreary basement.
I’m having a little trouble deciding which plants I should grow this year. My gut tells me the Japanese beetles may be few and far between. Our yard was so rock-hard because of the drought that you couldn’t even push a 3-inch garden staple into the ground without it bending into an exhausted clump of metal. I’m sure the beetles had trouble burrowing into the soil to lay their eggs. What a shame…
There are quite a few annuals I’ve given up on since the beetles arrived. Large marigolds are ridiculously easy to grow and come in so many useful sizes. They were always one of my go-to plants. Unfortunately, the flowers (especially the yellow ones) are a beetle favorite:
I used to plant hollyhocks in the back row of my annual borders. They were a real conversation piece since many of them grew to 9 or 10 feet tall. Not only do the beetles devour the flowers, but they turn the leaves into mincemeat as well.
And I love the sky blue color of morning glory ‘Heavenly Blue’, but boy are the leaves ever a beetle magnet. In the afternoons I can often scoop scores of beetles into my soapy bucket at a time. Blech!
I would love to throw caution to the wind and plant some of my old favorites again, but the beetles’ demise may be nothing more than wishful thinking. Most of them are flying into our yard each afternoon from a city golf course. Since our local newspaper just reported how much more the city paid in watering costs last summer, I’m sure those greens were kept well irrigated.
And while we let our yard go dormant, painful as it was to look at, many of my neighbors had their sprinklers on morning, noon and night. What a delightful place for a young Japanese beetle to lay her eggs!
Soooooo, I think I’ll just play it safe again. If they don’t show up at least it will be a great year for my roses.