Garden Gate e-notes: From our garden to your desktop.

plant pick

Bleeding heart vine
Clerodendrum thomsoniae

Some catalogs call this plant glory bower, but bleeding heart vine is a much better description for the red flowers that peep out of puffy white calyxes.

Where it’s cold hardy, this is a bushy, evergreen vine. But it’s often sold as a house plant, although it does prefer to be outside during the summer. In cooler areas, it stays 3 to 5 ft. tall, so it’s great in a container.

During the summer, bleeding heart vine likes consistent moisture, but don’t let the plant sit in water. A balanced fertilizer (like 10-10-10) once a month will keep this vine going strong.

TYPE Tender perennial SIZE 3 to 15 ft. long BLOOM White and red in mid- to late summer LIGHT Full sun to part shade SOIL Well-drained PESTS None serious HARDINESS Cold: USDA zones 10 to 12; Heat: AHS zones 12 to 1

problem solver

Tobacco budworm
Heliothis virescens

IDENTIFICATION — Tobacco budworm larvae are generally yellow to yellow-green with a brown head, but body color can sometimes be pink, red or maroon, as well.

DAMAGE — Most larvae appear in August or early September and attack petunia, geranium, nicotiana, ageratum, mum, snapdragon, strawflower, rose and other flowers. They tunnel into or eat entire flower buds and petals and sometimes leaf buds, too.

CONTROL — Handpick from plants around dusk when caterpillars are least active. Buy beneficial insects, such as stink bugs, green lacewing larvae and lady beetles from garden centers or mail-order sources, such as Gardens Alive. Release them on calm days in late spring, in early morning or early evening. Mix up pyrethroid insecticides and spray plants until leaves are dripping. These chemicals attack all stages of the insect, as well as the eggs, so you may only need to make a couple of applications.