I have problems?

I've had a few problems in the garden recently. I know we all do, as summertime is often rough on our plants, at least when compared to the version of the garden that lives in our heads. You know the one, where everything looks perfect with no work and no attention, when you never have to water or prune or weed or deal with herbivores.

In the real world though things happen, and I've found a few problems. Or have I? Starting with this Ligularia 'The Rocket' that has something weird going on with the leaves.

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At first I thought this was just drought damage, but that didn't make sense because we've had a lot of rain recently. Looking closely, you can see that something else is going on...

...that's insect damage! And sure enough, when I checked under the leaves...

...hey -- where did the little fuzzy caterpillars go? Earlier in the day when I first noticed the damage there were about ten of the little nibblers under here, but when I got around to taking photos later in the day -- no sight of them!

I searched quite thoroughly but no sign of them on any leaf or anywhere near the plant. Did a wren find them and have a nice meal? Those birds are the best at hunting under leaves!

Anyway, that problem is no longer one it seems. Hooray!



One that is not going to solve itself though is the pond. I went down there after the rains stopped as I was eager to see it nice and full and refreshed, but something was wrong...

...and I'm not talking about the super-limp Petasites either. The real problem is that there is way too much of the "beach" showing:

The water is so low!

Lower than it's ever been! There must be a rip in the liner...

Yep.

Take a close look at the photo. Do you see the little puncture marks that look like, oh, maybe raccoon teeth or claws were involved? Grrrr.

At least there's still some beauty here (Thalia dealbata):

I'll have to do some repair though and get that water level up. Soon.



One other problem that I'll only briefly mention is the new deer:

Not that one specifically, as it's fine. I'm talking about the newborn that died on the sidewalk across the street. That was a sad day last week. Sigh.


Any problems worth mentioning in your garden?

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