We do not yet know the extent of this new disease. If you have any signs of downy mildew, please email me, with description, and photo, and where you live (town, county, country). May I use the photo here?
I probably had early signs of infection for one or possibly two years before I realised that it was a disease that was killing my aquilegias.
As a service to the world I have put together this series of 12 interlinked webpages about downy mildew, in the hope that other gardeners will find out about it quickly, and therefore be able to do something about it. Ideally gardeners will see this information and know what to look for (also when choosing what plants to buy in), so prevention may be possible. Or at least be able to quickly identify what is happening, and so take steps to stop or slow its spread.
Please email me with your experiences. The webpages are my discoveries in my first year of known infection. I'd love to add more details and ideas, especially what works. Are you a nursery who has discovered it in your stock? You are not alone. As minimal treatment, it is probably most sensible to destroy any plant that has any sign at all of DM, and quarantine the rest. Treat it more as a virul than a fungal infection to be sure that you do not pass on the disease to your customers' gardens, as we KNOW that has happened, with devastating results. Please let me know as well, with your town/village and county, to enter details on this page. Just like 'ordinary' gardeners, all details are confidential. Your nursery name will not be mentioned, nor even that you are a nursery. It has been suggested that nurseries that do NOT self-report or are found selling infected stock after having already been alerted to the disease being present on their plants, should be entered here with their nursery name. That is certainly not happening. Yet. Perhaps next year, or if the transgression is horrendous enough.
This is where I have heard that downy mildew of aquilegias is found so far. The date is the year it was reported (often in retrospect)to be seen. It may have been around earlier, in fact any plant with early spring systemic growth I believe HAD to have DM infection the previous year. Notes: Reports are coming in fast, I cannot keep this webpage frequently updated, last update: 30/4/15. It seems gardeners easily spot the whitened unusual growth of systemically infected plants. I wonder if reporting will slow down later when it is much more subtle signs: angular slightly yellowy patches.
Aquilegia Downy Mildew in UK |
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| COUNTY | COMMENTS | PHOTOGRAPHS |
| Berkshire, Datchet |
2015, April.
Hi Carrie
Almost every plant (100+) and various varieties started
looking sickly a few weeks ago - some now look totally
withered.
Also, the pigeons seem to love the plants this year -
never seen/had them pecking Aquilegias before & they
have so far focussed solely on the poorly plants rather
than the nearby healthy plant(s). (Interesting,
wonder if they eat the infected tissue like slugs do? Or
eat the slugs? Or what? Carrie)
As you do, I searched the web & found your site, hope
this information is useful.
|
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| Buckinghamshire, Chearsley (near Oxfordshire border) |
2013. I read with interest your article. I, too, noticed what I thought was a new disease on aquilegias about 2 yrs ago but it may have been present before. I did not report it because I thought it might just be bad husbandry on my part (One always blames oneself!) I will now look out for it in people’s gardens in the area. |
|
| Berkshire,Newbury |
2015, April. I became aware of this problem through
gardening articles and noticed its presence in an area
of my garden this week. I have removed all plants in the
affected area in the hope that it will reduce the risk
of my losing all my aquilegia, but am not hopeful given
the virulence of the disease.
|
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| Buckinghamshire, Stoke Poges |
2015 April. My mother alerted me to the
DM problem, and your website. Last week I found one plant
with lighter than normal leaves and taller growth, but
because there were no yellow streaks I thought it was ok.
This morning spent ages studying your website, and realised
it probably wasn't. Went out and had another look, and as
you see the plant is definitely diseased. I am fairly sure
it is DM. [ Yes]
I cannot see any spores on the underside
of the leaves, but I gather that doesn't mean much.
(No,
it is only under ideal (warm wet) conditions, try a hand
lens/magnifying glass, and/or a close-up well-focused photo
and look closer on your computer. Carrie) |
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| Buckinghamshire, Wendover (nr Aylesbury) |
2014 April 2015 I have suffered the same as you, I had hundreds of aquilegia and they would appear at the rate of knots in front of my largish collection of hellebores and then all of a sudden they were gone. I thought that maybe my soil had been poisoned and because of all the rain we had during the winter of 2013-14 I thought something had been washed into the garden (we are on solid chalk) My plants wilted (they had the yellowing) and died/disappeared, I don’t recall seeing any as bad as some of your pictures. I did have one plant whose seed heads curled and didn’t look good, that plant lasted a bit longer then just disappeared on me, so from having a garden full of aquilegia of all colours and shapes I have a couple of healthy plants in the front garden (all the ones that died were in the back garden) |
I did have some seeds from my parents garden which has not been
affected (they live in Hemel Hempstead, Herts) which I did
scatter last winter so I’m waiting to see if they appear,
although I may have to dig them up if there are any signs of
disease. I have more seeds which I will plant in fresh compost
and grow in pots and see what happens I certainly won’t be
buying any until I know my soil is okay. |
| Berkshire, Wokingham |
2015, April. I’m reporting this outbreak for a
friend, she has downing on new shoots on one plant only
at the moment. She took the action advised in the
Daily Telegraph article. I am spreading the word
because this is a lovely plant.
|
|
| Cardiff area | Cardiff 2014 | Heard from someone who visited Touchwood Garden. |
| Cardiff, Morganstown x2 |
April 2015 Can't send you photo's because as soon as I
realised I had a problem with my aquilegia this year I removed
all infected plants and burned them. My back garden flower beds
are usually smothered with aquilegia at this time of year down
both sides of the garden .. not this year though. I have 1
plant that's okay, there were about 4 with downy mildew, and the
remainder didn't show. My neighbour reported the same problem. Obviously we both had affected plants last year but didn't realise that we had a problem as we both thought aquilegia were relatively 'bullet-proof' plants. |
Luckily all the plants in the front garden in
both our houses are 'normal' , not that that's much compensation as the plants out back were becoming very varied from cross pollination I guess as I didn't plant any that were 2 colours, they just appeared. My daughter lives just up the valley from me and her plants, some of my seedlings, are all okay at the moment. |
| Derbyshire, Chesterfield | 2013. I spotted DM last year (2014) after we spoke on the
phone last July/August and in retrospect I now realise it was
present at least a year before, with the telltale discoloration
and looking blasted/burnt almost. So after speaking to you I
realised that's what was the cause of my sickly aquilegias in
2014. I removed all foliage on all plants, even the healthy ones in August cutting everything right to the ground. I am currently taking stock of what has survived, how many appear to have the disease and trying leaf removal on those that have it. I do have many plants that are not appearing to be affected though. I'm going to try and record all and see if there is any pattern for example if species types are less affected, hybrids, long spurred etc. (Great, that would be useful, Carrie) |
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| Devon, South |
'Very early on last spring, (2014) I noticed that some
aquilegias I had moved started to look sick, the newly
emerging leaves showed the same signs as some of your pics.
These plants all died relatively guickly ... I had always
been in the habit of moving them about to group whites,
blues together etc with no ill effect. Later last spring
more plants in different areas of my quite large garden
started dying as well, till most of them had died. I tried
researching the cause on Google but last spring there was
nothing out there to give me any clues. Not the case now! It
seems that a few have survived and I wait to see what
happens to them. The year before I had bought a couple of
plants from some garden centre to increase my stock of
unusual ones and they died sometime during the season after
flowering. Now I'm somewhat relieved in a curious way to know
what killed them but at the same time gutted because I love
them as a genus and they were a mainstay in my garden come
May. Hey Ho, that's what gardening is about.
I'll keep an eye on the remaining survivors which are
now showing early new growth and will take pics if any
go bad. It will be interesting to see how many seeds
germinate in the soil this spring, usually there are
lots everywhere which I don't bother to nurture...I also
have some last year's selected seedlings in pots in my
nursery area, it'll be interesting to see how they fare.
I'll keep in touch.'
|
Reply from Carrie: It may not have been the bought plants. Many
bought ones die after flowering, at least here in Swansea which
isn’t far from your address. Were they the large, long-spurred
flower types? I find, eg the f1 hybrids such as Swan/State
series are very unlikely to make it into the following year. Of
course they could have had DM, or other problems that may have
weakened them such as powdery mildew or whitefly. Additionally,
indoor-grown plants that are released for sale then have to
contend with various outdoor conditions.... so that too may be a
factor regarding their weakened state. Update April 26th 2015. You may well be right.... we are hearing about, and seeing, plants being sold with visible yellowy DM patches. Or worse. See some of the other entries. |
| Devon, South, Newton Abbot | 2015 April. Hi Carrie, I just noticed some of my aquilegias looking sick this week and quickly found your article online - which perfectly matches the description. I didn’t notice any last year but realise I have far fewer plants this year than last. I have now dug up all that are clearly infected and left the rest with fingers crossed - but suspect I will be digging up more in coming weeks. |
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| Devon, South East | 2014 I can tell you after looking at your pages that I have had this aquilegia downy mildew and I put it down to the wet autumn winter spring and then the heatwaves as I have also had bad mildew in some other plants which I had to pull up in the end. My aquilegias had the same leaf dying off and pale colour that you describe, and the ones that were badly affected did die off. If plants are like this, I have been removing them. Plant Ebola.' |
|
| Dorset, West, Bradford Abbas nr Sherborne | 2014. I have a small garden,cottage style and grow lots of
aquilegias. Some I have purchased as named varieties and many
more that have self seeded. In the Spring of 2014 I noticed
sickly plants here and there (in rear garden only) and like
yourself put it down to weather conditions. I picked off the
offending leaves and am sure(!!) some may have made their way to
the compost bin!! Throughout that year the situation got worse and although some plants made flower buds only a handful made it to full maturity. Some barely unfurled first leaves before they withered and disappeared. Ever the optimist and confident that nothing ever touched robust aquilegias(!!) I waited for this years reappearance but nothing has!. One plant set seed last year and I have a quantity of seedlings around it that at the moment look OK. In my front garden I have about 6 plants that are to date untouched. |
In desperation, just yesterday, I googled 'diseased aquilegias' and found your story. I was able from pictures to confirm that I too had this disease in my garden and I immediately went and dug up any plant showing signs and they are being burned today. Part of my desperation was brought about by the fact that I had just purchased 3 new plants and I was being hesitant about planting them - I knew instinctively that something was very wrong. Hope this adds to your compilation of experiences and I wish you well in your research and quest for a solution. |
| East Anglia, Norwich | 2010
Having read an article about you in Alpine Gardener we are
contacting you about our disease problem. For the last 5
years we have been losing most of our aquilegia plants. The
leaves distort early in the season with the leaflets looking
puckered and an overall whitish look. They then steadily
die or at least look terribly unsightly. We still get
seedlings some of which survive. Some of our species such
as skinneri and longissima seem to be less
susceptible.
We live near Norwich in East Anglia and have a heavy soil
and we are fairly shady.
April 2015
|
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Essex /Hertfordshire border, Sawbridgeworth |
'I didn’t take any photos of diseased
plants but they all seemed to have similar symptoms of the
leaves turning white and the plants dying from the top
downwards. At a guess, we lost about 40% of them 2012-13
and 60% 2013-14.
|
 |
| Essex, Romford |
2013. April 2015: I've just finished
another spray of systemic fungicide,
the third (2-weekly) dose for some plants. Early days yet, but
it is promising. A little while after the first spraying
systemically infected leaves, those borderline and left to test,
looked really sickly. Some leaves that had looked healthy,
before the spray, didn't look so good after. Others were fine.
(Blow being organic, the time has come for me to also trial a systemic fungicide, thanks for information. Carrie) |
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| Hampshire, Alton | 2015, April. Have had many purple and pink aquilegias growing in my small garden, happily self-seeding everywhere for many years, they seemed fine last year, or at least thought they were, but nearly all of them have strangely disappeared over the winter, only a small handful have returned, a couple of which look a bit suspect so will remove. | Never known this happen before, reluctant to sow a packet of seed that I have now! |
| Hampshire, Cowplain, 12miles from Portsmouth |
2015, April. We have lived in our present home for over 20 years and each year have had a magnificent show of self-sown Aquilegias of many colours. I seem to have very few this spring - usually I would have masses of self-sown seedlings coming up to bloom. However, I have over the last few days noticed some worrying signs of disease in our plants – at first I thought it could be because I recently scattered Growmore pellets, which may have burnt the leaves of some of my plants, but then I remembered a recent article in the Daily Telegraph. I will be heartbroken to lose my lovely flowers, and I know you already are. Update a week later: Spoke to my chiropodist during the week who lives a few roads away and her plants have got it! At the moment I seem to have a couple of plants untouched by the disease and coming into normal flower - do you think they could be resistant and if so could they be a valuable source of seeds? Carrie: Possibly, I may be asking in the future about what proves resistant. |
.jpg) I chose this photo of yours
as it well shows a kinky stem that can be a DM feature. |
| Hampshire, Havant |
2015, April. Just to let this mildew has been found in my
Mum's garden. She is out in her garden digging them up
as I type. She is devastated as they are they are seeds from
her Father's garden and he died almost 40 years ago.
|
|
| Hampshire, Southampton | 2013. Our aquilegias
were decimated last year with this disease.
We think that we may have had 1 or 2 plants with it in 2013
but like you we did not realise the significance.
We have however one plant looking very healthy at the moment in a large
plastic container. This the only survivor of hundreds of plants
from 2013. We were thinking if it might be an idea to grow it on
in our porch what do you think? |
Carrie: Yes, the plant in a pot may well have a little
protection because of elevated position (though it means if
it gets it it will be very efficient at sending spores over
a larger area)
The porch would give added protection from windblown spores
and also from rain splashes from soil in case spores are
there.... perhaps watering from below may help?
Perhaps a DM-free mulch as well?
Do let me know how it goes.. |
| Hampshire, Kings Worthy, Winchester |
2013 Reported April 2015. For the past 2 years I have had
aquilegias which come up with pale whitish foliage and they
eventually rot off and die. I have posted it to various
sites but until now have not had anyone come up with an
explanation.
Now a local friend has also had the same problem. It is very
sad as all my plants have gradually gone. I still have left
one healthy (so far) plant and will see how that gets on and
hopefully propagate from it.
|
I will do as you say and keep my eyes peeled for other
sick plants in the area and have emailed various people.
I hope you and others can come up with a solution.
|
| Hampshire, Upper Weald |
Shock horror!!! I have downy mildew on the aquilegias that I have inspected. Feeling week at the knees I came in to email you. I have a lot of aquilegias and am tempted to dig them all up. The ones inspected are at the yellow blotch stage. Some have slight whitening on the under surface. |
We are fairly near to Alton ,Alresford, Four Marks and
Basingstoke. |
| Hampshire | 2014 via RHS Members' Advisory Service | |
| Hertfordshire, Buntingford |
2015, April. I believe all my aquilegias have succumbed to downy
mildew, see attached photos. I used to have loads of
plants, but hardy any have come up this year. They looked ok
until a few days ago. Carrie: I chose this photo as it shows very well that one shoot/nose of an aquilegia plant can be systemically affected whilst the others are (currently) healthy. That shoot will infect the rest of the plant when weather conditions suit sporulation. Or infection may possibly occur via the connecting root tissue. |
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| Hertfordshire, Goff's Oak |
2015, April. I also have what I believe to be the
same problem. Last year I had a beautiful, colourful show, sadly this year I only have a few that are not yet affected, have enclosed a photo, this was a larger very healthy looking plant. I have now taken all the suspect plants out. Have also sprayed the remainder with a fungicide, whether this will help I await to see. I live in Hertfordshire, EN7 5, with no near neighbours, so it hasn't crossed from a close garden to ours. |
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| Hertfordshire, Harpenden |
2015. I saw your article some time ago, after my
sister, had found it in her garden and had it identified by
the RHS. She has never worn her gardening clothes while
visiting me, though we have both been round one another's
gardens in non-gardening clothes. I caller her round to
look at my garden to confirm my suspicions that it had
reached here. There is only one plant that seems so far to
be unaffected. I have very heavy clay soil so I am not
looking forward to the task of digging them all up.
I assume that it affects all aquilegias, and my oh-so-pretty
A. canadensis will have to go when it shows itself.
Oh, why didn't I save seed last year when I knew my sister
had it? Sigh! Not that the canadensis seems to set viable
seed, or else it is full of recessive genes and the granny's
bonnets always predominate..
|
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| Hertfordshire, Great Gaddesden nr Berkhamstead | 2014. I believe that I lost
80% of my aquilegia plants in 2014. At this time of year (March /April) my aquilegias are usually about a foot high, this year they are very stunted with greying leaves which whither after a week or so. I would estimate that it has affected 75 to 80% of my plants and I have dug up and burned the worst affected, as recommended in an article in The Daily Telegraph. I first noticed it last summer but took no action as I thought it was due to the weather. Nearly all of my aquilegias are self-seeded crosses and I do have about 8 healthy, normal plants which I am hoping are mildew resistant. 3 weeks later: I have now lost all but 4 plants, the remaining plants being some distance from the others so I'm hoping they will flower and I will be able to collect some seeds. ( Note: I chose this photo as rarely do people show a seedling that has been infected, and it is useful to show this here, Carrie) |
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| Hertfordshire, Little Gaddesden nr Berkhamstead | 2015 March. I have just read the article in Gardens
Illustrated and I can report the disease here. It is also
present in my brother's garden a mile away. Last year we lost a
significant number of our much-loved aquilegias and enquiries
at The Malvern Show provided no clues. The drifts of largely
self-sown flowers will be sorely missed which I know you will
understand and I am pleased that the problem is at last being
recognised. The problem first manifested as a paling of the leaves to almost white and then the centre of the plant was easily removed leaving the roots. Surviving plants look normal at the moment. |
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| Hertfordshire, St Albans | 2012
See also entry under 'Essex / Hertfordshire border, above. In 2012 the plants coming up in spring were extremely chlorotic and the leaves soon shrivelled. In 2014 it was back with a vengeance, with only one or two plants left at the back, and infection also in the front garden. It was all over the town, many of my friends reported it and a local garden centre had a batch of Aquilegia 'Black Barlow' that was affected. They then contacted the grower. I contacted RHS, who came back to confirm downy mildew and the sad news that nothing could be done, but dig up and dispose. I passed this info on to the garden centre. |
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| Hertfordshire, Stotfold nr Hitchin |
2013. Hi Carrie, I have just come across your web site as I have been trying to find out something about why my aquilegias are dying. I first noticed the problem in spring 2013 but at first thought it was due to a late frost. I had some old groups of wonderful aquilegias all different types and colours that I had grown for years. Gradually the leaves wilted then the flower stalks went before the flowers opened and they shriveled up. I started to look at them seriously in 2014 but could not find anything on line to explain the problem. I started to remove all infected plants as it was obvious they were not going to recover. Although heart broken to lose my plants I started to replace them this year with new plants. It sounds like it is a bigger problem than I suspected and I may lose my new plants! |
%20(300x300).jpg) |
| Hertfordshire, Hertford | 2014. April 2015 This spring I thought 'Where are my aquilegias? They should be
up by now.' In the front garden I have lost all (about 40), and
in the back garden about 85% of 60-70 plants.
After
speaking with you, I took the leaves off the plants which had
succumbed to DM and dug those up which were literally just
falling away in my hand. It is heartbreaking, even for me in my
little garden, so goodness knows how you must feel. It is
especially sad as they are the essence of the typical English
cottage garden. I, too, like a lot of the other comments, noticed the plants didn't look too good after flowering last year but also put it down to weather conditions. The soil is chalky and light and so certainly does not hold water or create a damp environment.. However I really only noticed in Spring this year when the garden was coming back to life that I couldn't see many aquilegias at all. Over the last 2 weeks, more have gone but I have also noticed that a couple where I have destroyed the leaves, seem to have come back quite strong. These are Nora Barlows. I do still have a handful of healthy plants dotted around so once they are out in flower (fingers crossed) I will let you know if they are of a particular strain. The McKennas hybrids are nowhere to be seen either. |
.jpg) A picture of happier, nodding aquilegia heads.... Many thanks for all your help and the awareness you are creating. |
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| Hertfordshire, Welwyn | 2015 March. Hi Carrie, after reading the article, I have
just spent the last hour inspecting, photographing and killing
aquilegias! I'm hoping that I have been overzealous, but I
suspect that some of our plants have DM and I don't want to take
any risks. The majority in the garden look fine, but apart from
one plant, all our pure white Barlow types look suspicious. If you are able to to give me your opinion on the photos that would be great. I have dug up and thrown away all of them apart from the last one, which I'm unsure about. (Carrie: you are right, Kerrie, all are infected except possibly the last one, keep an eye on it) The ones that I bought from you a couple of years ago look fine. Although its sad that we have the disease, I'm glad that I'm able to spot it and take action. My other half has now studied your DM pages and we will both be extremely vigilant. I will email my NGS county organiser and ask them to spread the word. |
.jpg) |
| Isle of Wight, Newport | 2015. Dear Carrie, Thank you for your reply. I think
the attached photos do show downy mildew but would be very
grateful for your confirmation. I will then dig them up and
destroy them. Hope the information is useful and do hope that you National Collection will survive. Kind regards 17 days later: More plants are showing symptoms now and I am digging up several every few days. I am noticing now that some plants have the taller stems you mentioned and waiting to see what develops. I expect I will have to dig those up, too. It is so sad as they really are a spring stalwart in my garden and had made some very pretty crosses. However, I shall value even more the ones that are left and hope there will always be one that escapes! |
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| Kent, New Beckenham | 2015 April. I read the information on your webpage last night. Today I looked around my garden and found one plant that I take to be infected - the leaves look very like the pictures sent by your correspondents from Upper Norwood and Somerset, with the inner section of the plant looking ok, the outer part yellowy and purply, weak and shrivelled. |
I have removed the infected plant. The other plants look ok. I
live in north Kent on the border of of SE London: New Beckenham
BR3. I am so very sorry to read about your plants. |
| Kent, Paddock Wood |
2014. Reported 2015, April. I have this disease in my
garden, which is close to Paddock Wood in Kent. After reading
about it just recently, I realised that I had it last year, but
back then I just thought the plants were drought stressed or
having a bad year. This year it's even worse and I am removing
all the affected plants. There is only one spot where, for the
moment, the plants seem to be developing normally. Such a shame. These are beautiful plants which filled the garden magnificently between the tulips and the roses. In fact, the only previous problem was stopping them spread too much. Hopefully, there may be some types which prove to be immune in the longer term. Best wishes for your collection. |
.jpg) |
| Kent, Sidcup |
2015 April. I have noticed leaves, on an otherwise healthy
aquilegia, with the classic signs of downy mildew as shown
on the RHS site and yours. The plant was fine a couple of
weeks ago, but the whiter green curled leaves caught my
eye. I'm sure I have seen these symptoms before in my
garden, and just picked off the leaves. I also remember,
about six or more years ago all my aquilegias failed to
flower, with all the flowers 'balling' before they opened.
|
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| Lancashire, Preston |
2012, possibly earlier.
I have just found your pages about Aquilegia downy mildew.
My Aquilegias have been dying since about 2011/2012, and
having looked at your pictures, I can say it is almost
definitely due to this disease. I have been wondering all
this time what the problem is. I used to have many
throughout my garden but they are now all sick or died
except one on its own secluded corner. New (self-sown)
seedlings seem to get infected too. I do not have any
pictures yet but will look out for emerging plants
showing signs.
|
Thank you for providing such detailed information on the
disease, and I also wanted to say how sorry I am that your
beautiful collection of Aquilegias has been so badly
affected. I saw your lovely garden on the television and
much admired it. I hope you find a good way to fight the
disease, sorry I cannot be of help this way as I have not
found any way to save my plants.
|
| Lancashire, Preston - 12 miles North in Calder Vale. |
2014, April. I think this plant must have mildew as it
matches what you have described.
.jpg) I
realised we have had less and less plants. Even my rather
non-gardening husband noted the lack of aquilegias this
year. The garden is very shady and quite moist most of the
time. Carrie: I'm 95% sure it is DM, though the dark netted effect is not typical. The curled, dying leaflets (out of focus) seem to confirm. |
.jpg) |
| London, Greater, Croydon x2 |
2012-13 April 2015 I have just seen the article in the
Plant Heritage booklet about the new Downy Mildew Aquilegia
disease.
|
As yet I have not noticed on any infestation of the Aquilegia in
any the several gardens I manage professionally on Cadogan
Estate in Chelsea, London. |
| London, Greater, SE19 Upper Norwood |
Possibly since 2005-2007. I have been browsing your
Touchwood site. I immediately recognized symptoms of the
Downy Mildew as something I have seen for many years among
my own aquilegias, which is devastating. It has been
here more than 8 years and maybe less than ten. I had some
short term relief after watering with an ericaceous
fertilizer solution, as many gardeners suddenly suffered
severe fungal problems on their allotments/gardens following
the then reduction in acid rain. I may try it again this
year. Plants are to a large extent surviving and flowering
and even looking good during their seasonal peak. I do
'clean' the plants by removing marked foliage and nipping
off distorted buds when I see them. I discard distorted seed
pods just in case they carry the
disease. Sadly, many seedlings are marked by DM very early
on and some even weakened,
the leaves I peal away are often almost entirely whitish and
weak-looking and, to start with, an almost picotee-type
darkening at the edges. However, I know from experience
that, were I to leave the leaves in situ, the dark marking
would slowly flood the rest of the leaf. What
I have noticed, which may go against your meristem theory,
is that, even on young seedlings, the outer leaves
are marked but the inner new growth is unaffected, at least
for a while. Inevitably, the clean outer leaves become
marked, so I am constantly peeling away outer leaves.
|
.jpg) Photo shows whitish new leaves that appear systemically infected, as well as (bottom) yellowy patches of infection on an old leaf. |
| London, Greater, NW11 | 2014. Yes, I have it! Last year the flowers did not develop properly. this year the leaves are all yellow. Normally my front garden in a few weeks is full of them and people stop to admire. So sorry about yours. So sad. | |
London. Nunhead, Peckham. |
2015, April. I have spotted this in my garden for the
first time this year. Some are in the middle of other apparently
healthy aquilegias, but I guess that I should remove all of the
adjacent ones too? Especially given the heavy rain we have had
in the last few days. I also share plants with my parents and
sister, do you know if it can be transferred on other plants
even if unaffected themselves? (Those 2 pics with unusual brown bits are certainly not what i have seen, other pics show leaves that look more typical, curled and whitish. I suggest you leave adjacent plants but keep close eye out especially for the other symptom of subtle angular yellowy patches. The plant takes a time to show symptoms, just like we can pass on flu even before we are aware of illness.... and spores can be in the soil attached to plants. So ask sis and mum to keep a close eye out... though it may also be that DM is in their area anyway..... Carrie) Reply: The ones with the brown patches are actually ones that have brown patches when healthy, not something I had ever seen before moving here. |
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| London (North), Highgate | 2015, March. Thank you for the brilliant help and
information on your website about Downy Mildew on Aquilegias.
After reading about it in the Plant Heritage mag yesterday I
checked my plants and, yes, of course, I have it too. I vaguely
remember seeing such distorted growth last year but, being
ignorant, did nothing about it. I have dug out some plants, and will try the 'nose removal' you suggest on others as it seems sad to jettison the apparently healthy part of a plant. (Comment from Carrie, this MAY not work: RHS have now found DM lesions in roots) A lot of plants seem unaffected but I don't suppose there's anything I can do to protect them. I am so sorry about your collections, it must be heart-breaking. |
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| London (North), Muswell Hill | 2013. At last, thanks to your website, I have
found the reason for the demise of the aquilegias that were such
a feature of my gardens. In 2011 I needed
to replace an old favourite variety and so bought a large number
of plants from a nursery. I fear that these plants
introduced the problem. The new plants died one by one, and my
other aquilegias started to disappear on a grand scale - mature
plants and seedlings - others looked sickly. I have one
healthy plant left in the garden. I wonder if it will survive... |
In 2013 I contacted the RHS and sent photos, but they had no specific advice about what the problem was, just some generic suggestions. |
| London SE | See entry for Kent, New Beckenham. | |
| Middlesex, Enfield |
2015, April. I have recently noticed an Aquilegia that
appeared to be wilting badly. My following investigations
led me to your website. I then looked more closely at my
other plants and I found others affected as you have
described. I have only been resident here for 2 years so
know little of the history of the garden or these plants. I
suspect that they are all self seeded. There are of the
order of 20 plants of which approximately six appear to
currently be affected. I have destroyed these plants and am
watching the remainder carefully.
Good luck in your investigations
|
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| Middlesex, Northolt. | 2015, April.
Having read your article in the April edition of Gardens
Illustrated I believe, after inspecting some of my
aquilegias which I planted last autumn, they are suffering
from the downy mildew shown on your website.
They have been dug up and will be disposed of securely,
hoping the DM will not spread to any of my other aquilegias.
Note from Carrie: quite a few people have recently sent in photos showing dark patches on the DM aquilegia leaves, not something I have seen in my healthy plants, nor my DM diseased plants. One person reassured me that her aquilegia leaves were always like that anyway. Here the symptom is the subtle yellowy, angular areas. |
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| Oxfordshire | 2014, via RHS Members' Advisory Service | |
| Oxfordshire, Charlbury, Chipping Norton | 2014 I read about the mildew that is affecting Aquilegias in Gardens Illustrated. I had been wondering what was going on with my aquilegias last year. Noticed that they looked as if something was nibbling them, and I had difficulty imagining that any creature would attack something as tough as aquilegias. So, now I know that some of my plants have the disease. By the way, I don't have very fancy aquilegias, just your common blue, purple, pink varieties. |
I have already dug them out, sorry, so no picture available. Good luck with your plants. let's hope the plants will develop a resistance to the disease! |
| Oxfordshire, Shiplake, Henley-on-Thames | 2013
I had a garden full of
aquilegias, my pride and joy. In 2013 I noticed that they
were looking very poorly, and the RHS diagnosed downy
mildew. Now I have NO aquilegias. I
didn't even have to dig them up and remove them. They all
died.
It is a great tragedy, and happened so fast.
I've just sent DM information out to my Garden Club, with your webpage address. |
Last year I was at a Garden
Centre near Reading, and saw that all their aquilegias had the
same symptoms. I talked to the staff there and warned them , but whether or not they sold these plants on I don't know. I think they thought I was an alarmist. |
| Somerset, North, Wrington |
2015, March. I’ve got a
horrible feeling that some of our many aquilegias have got downy
mildew, so I’m sending you photos. I read about it in last
Saturday’s Telegraph and after inspecting some of the plants, I
am worried by what I found. I seem to remember that last
year’s display was not as good as usual, although I didn’t
notice anything in particular.Re the plants yesterday, several
of them looked decidedly sickly, although I couldn’t actually
see any of the downy growth on the underside of the leaves. |
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| South Glamorgan | 2014 via RHS Members' Advisory Service | |
| Surrey | 2014 via RHS Members' Advisory Service | |
| Surrey, Ashtead | 2015 April. I think I have discovered the
problem of my Aquilegias by looking at you website. It must be
devastating for you. I shall now have to dig mine up. Can I
leave the unaffected ones at the moment? Many are self seeded. I
enclose some photos. Yes, leave the unaffected ones but keep a close check on them from now on, especially for the much more subtle signs of yellowy angular patches on some leaves. Carrie |
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| Surrey, Kingston upon Thames Carrie: To have systemic infection now, DM must have been there last year, but the yellowy patches are very subtle. Most of us don't see them until we know what to look for... whether wegarden in a small cottage garden or a large educational one. |
2015 April. Thank you for your very informative article
about this horrible new disease. Aquilegias are one of my
favourite plants and every spring I look forward to seeing
their beautiful flowers. But this year has been a disaster,
with most of my plants having rotted away over the winter -
something which has never happened before on my light sandy
soil. The
symptoms seem identical to those you describe.With
hindsight, the disease must have been in my garden last year
but I didn't notice it. There is sometimes the odd plant
which doesn't thrive for some reason and they are not always
long-lived. I hadn't considered any disease as Aquilegias
are (or had been up to now) bombproof! I have removed the affected
plants from my back garden. The front garden still has a few
seemingly healthy plants so far, but I am not optimistic.
Although I am devastated to have found this disease in my
garden, my loss is nothing compared to yours. I really feel
for you. I will follow your advice and let you know if I
find out anything that could be helpful.
|
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| Surrey, Wonersh, nr Guildford |
2015, April. We first noticed that a
few of our aquilegias were wilting and dying a week or so ago,
and now having read the article in the Telegraph and your
website, which was really useful, we can see that the problem is
widespread in our garden. We’re in the process of digging
out and removing the diseased plants and hoping that those so
far unaffected will survive, but who knows ... I don’t remember seeing this problem
before this year but maybe we were just unobservant. But even if
we’d spotted the patches last year, we wouldn’t have known what
we were looking at. Now we do, sadly. I’ve attached
a few pictures. It’s such a shame as aquilegias have
happily grown and self-seeded for years. Interestingly,
our semiaquilegias seem unaffected – as yet ... |
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| Surrey, Little Bookham Nr Leatherhead. |
2014 April 2015 The systemically infected plants
were very clear to see with their whitened foliage and infected
look. The initial stages of yellowy patches are very hard to
see. There's a hint given (right), by the slug slime and
droppings!.jpg) |
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| Surrey, Little Bookham Nr Leatherhead. |
2014 April 2015 Finding a few
plants with subtle yellowy patches enabled finding the few
systemically infected plants deep in that border that had
infected the others. All plants are self-sown or sown from seed
rather than bought-in. Carrie: I chose this photo as it shows the lesions on golden-leaved aquilegia plants. It is not until the patches turn brown that you can see that they exist. |
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| Surrey, nr Redhill |
2015 April. I was shocked to discover a couple of
aquilegias in the flower beds which seem to be showing clear
signs of ADM. I immediately dug them up and put them in
sacks to take to the Council tip. I don't think
there's any doubt about the diagnosis.
I don't grow
anything special - practically all my plants are self-sown
seedlings, which thrive much better than anything I buy.
Having said that, there are a few plants of long-spurred
varieties which have come from HPS seed, but (so far) they
don't seem to be affected. I'm pretty upset, so I imagine
you must be devastated about the effect on your collection.
The HPS Southern Counties Group has a meeting on Saturday
and I shall be telling members to be aware of the problem.
I'm also looking forward to meeting you at the Ranunculaceae
Day in a couple of weeks. I'm hoping there'll be some
cheerful topics as well as this devastating disease.
(I really like this photo in the way it shows a badly (systemically) infected plant next to a healthy one which well shows what the normal development should look like right now. Carrie) |
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| Surrey, Richmond, Kew Gardens |
2014 April 2015: I discovered a patch of systemically infected plants in The Duke's Garden. After bringing the issue to the attention of the gardener responsible for this area, I then checked as many other aquilegia plants as possible, taking photos as necessary. Later I delivered a full illustrated email report of any plants that I'd seen that had worrying symptoms. |
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| Surrey, Richmond, Kew Gardens Plant Sales |
April 2015: Yellowy patches found on another batch of
Aquilegia plants. It has already happened once this season, and
this in another supplier, so nurseries are not aware of it. Carrie: no nursery would ever knowingly send infected plants to Kew and Wisley or any other botanic or RHS garden. Yet it is happening, and it is not a 1-off. So nurserymen need information that ADM exists, and help to recognize this highly infective and destructive new disease. |
Perhaps we gardeners may be one way of feeding back the info to nurseries, but I will also try and get another article in Horticulture Week, this link is to the one in March 2015. |
| Surrey, Sunbury on Thames |
2015, April. Having read the article in the Saturday Telegraph a few weeks ago, I have been watching my Aquilegia. I’m sad to say that many of them have developed the downy mildew. I have dug up about 30 (about 60% of what I have). Most of the affected plants had either curled leaves or leaves that had turned pale and also some that were somewhat ‘shrivelled’. The downy mildew on the reverse of the leaves was not evident. |
It’s such a shame as they are delightful plants but let’s
hope that, in time, you will be successful in breeding from the
‘survivors’ Carrie. Good luck. |
| Surrey, Woking, RHS Garden, Wisley | 2014 April 2015.Finding a patch of systemically infected plants at Wisley has triggered a search for any others in the garden, as well as being useful 1st-hand knowledge for the horticulturalists, especially the many trainees. |
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| Surrey, Woking, RHS Garden, Wisley. Plant Centre | April 2015.The initial symptoms showed as hard-to-see
lesions on small leaflets. Rapidly the infected plant was
removed and others investigated and quarantined; and sales
benches disinfected..jpg) |
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| Surrey, Worcester Park | 2015, April. Good evening, just notice several plants affected. Will remove and keep watch. | |
| Sussex, East. Lewes |
2015, April.
We have been living in our house for 25 years and always had
a wonderful display of aquilegia. This year for the first
time, only one came through but this has now wilted and
died. I'm assuming with is downy mildew.
Sorry, no pics - no plants. I've lost my complete crop. |
Yes it is devastating but thanks to your website, I take some consolation in knowing that I'm not the only one who's suffering such a loss. |
| Sussex, East. Wilmington |
2015 April. I was wondering what was happening to all
my aquilegias when I saw the small article in Gardens
Illustrated. The symptoms exactly match those on your
website.
The other noticeable thing is that they have not self-seeded
as usual. I didn't notice a problem with them last year, but
they can't have seeded as one flower bed usually has way too
many and this year there are only one or two.
|
I live at the foot of the Downs, on chalk.
Thanks for your reply & all the helpful advice.
I've passed it on to gardening friends. |
| Sussex, East. Ringmere, Lewes Update 17th April 2015:
I have seen downy mildew all over Lewes and Southease too.
|
2015, April.
I have hundreds of self seeded aquilegia in my
garden and most of them look very sick, I have a dreadful
feeling it's downy mildew and have attached photos for you
to confirm please. I am utterly gutted, I cant imagine
living without them.
Do I have to dig them up or just cut them down? I am so
gutted, I can't imagine living without them, my all time
favourite plants: gone.
Yes, this is DM, and I'm afraid that with these systemically-infected ones, they need to be dug out. Already they are sporulating so infecting others and the soil. Later in the season watch out for the very much more subtle symptoms of angular yellowish patches, and then it may be worth just taking off infected leaves. Carrie
I did not think that
the disease was in Sussex.
I will spread the
word.
|
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| Swansea, Killay | 2013 (in retrospect, actually realised in spring 2014) Killay (Touchwood National Collections) 'Aquilegias are my love, passion and livelihood. Is this the end of the National Plant Collections of Aquilegia in the UK?' Update 24/4/2015 Yes, basically it is the end. Despite all the continual care that I took last year, ( destroying systemically infected plants and removing other infected leaves after flowering until winter when I cut all leaves right back), I am down to about 10% of the plants I had last year. If that. This is an extremely virulent disease. |
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| Vale of Glamorgan, Dinas Powys | April 2015. Unfortunately, I have only just realised why my plants look yellow and limp. I shall remove them immediately and hope the remaining plants will be ok. Here's the photo. It's just one of about 6 that is affected. |
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| Wiltshire, Chippenham, (west of) | April 2015.This is Aquilegia Spring Magic, I had both the
red & cream and the yellow and both seemed to not grow at all, I
had assumed that they had been grown under glass and didn't like
being moved outside. They have tried to flower but very weakly
and are covered in leaves which are patchy yellow turning brown,
just like in your photos on your website, and the leaf stalks
have reddish brown marks on them. I will burn them now that I
know what it is. The white Spring Magic ones have grown fantastically and are flowering quite happily. |
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| Wiltshire, Lacock, Chippenham | April 2015. I have many hundreds of aquilegias in my garden
and this year about three quarters have come up with this
disease. They were fine last year. It's going to look pretty empty this summer. . |
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| Wiltshire, nr Devizes | April 2015. I had new plants bought at a nursery and I think that these plants introduced the problem. | |
| Yorkshire, South, Sheffield | 2015 April. My garden is in Sheffield and once I weeded out aquilegias I had so many. Now most of them are gone. Of the few that are left looking healthy I'm not sure if any will flower. I live about 3 miles from the city centre at about 500' altitude. Much of the garden is sheltered by trees and hedges. | Good luck with the investigations |
| Yorkshire, South, Sheffield | 2015 April. I am distressed to read your website
information and to feel sure that I have the disease in my
garden in Sheffield. I have a small cottage garden which is
filled with aquilegias that have been there many years and have
self seeded all over the garden. (Oh, I'm so sorry for you, yes this is downy mildew. Carrie) Reply: I have spent today digging up all the obviously sick plants, about half my total. Another sign is how easily the stems come away from the root when pulled. I shall wait anxiously to see if the rest succumb. It is a mystery how the disease arrived. All my plants are self seeded from plants in my garden when I moved in - 36 years ago. I have never bought an aquilegia as I loved the gradation from pinks to purples to blues and didn't want to introduce other colours. |
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| Yorkshire, South, Sheffield | 2015 April. Another report from Sheffield I'm afraid. I was
alerted to the disease through the local Hardy Plant Soc. and
went out to look at mine. I have dug up or de-leaved about
12 plants, all concentrated in 2 borders, one above the other.
None of the surrounding plants show any sign at the moment, but
I will keep a close eye on them. |
I haven't bought in or even sown any aquilegias for about 20
years - what I have is the result of self-seeding. So far only a small proportion of my total stock, but I will have to be very vigilant. |
With regards to the new species that this downy mildew appears to be, it is based on the fact that the DNA is unique and the current host is unknown to have a downy mildew infection previously recorded. At the moment, we are unable to identify where exactly this disease has appeared from. There are a few different possibilities, some more likely than others, that would result in the sudden appearance of this downy mildew.
Despite the heartache that this new pathogen has brought to me, I am fascinated by the idea of a new disease arising, and with such detrimental results. Luckily, the RHS Members' Advisory Service was able to give me further perspective on this: New diseases could arise quite often, but not always are they detected and realised that they are new to science. So through the RHS advisory service we might detected about 3-10 new to the UK or on new hosts per year. But the number of new species we know are new species or are involved in describing is far less, probably about 5-10 over the last 10 years. So this is not a common event ,but not unusual, and depending on which type of fungus is your specialism, it can increase or decrease the likelihood of finding new species to science.
Chen from China (he hosts a TV gardening show) told me they have it there but it's not an issue except in spring and autumn.... 'I do have to point out that my city has a different climate. Usually in winter it is very dry, and when it comes to wet season the temperature is fairly high. This disease spreads only briefly between the spring andsummer in my area. After that, it's all gone. I only encountered it twice inthe past 7 years.' He went on:
DM systemic infection in plants as they emerge in springtime
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