With the recent drier weather and insects still being an issue, plants and gardens may be taking a hit.

Thomas Jefferson Gardens Board member Jean Walker says vine plants can be especially vulnerable to insects. 

“There’s different bugs that will get inside the stems and suck the juice out basically. So your leaves will kind of die off, or curl up, or go away. So you know some and of course there’s a lot of times that you’ll actually see the bug on the plant. So you just got to be ready for that.”

Walker points out insects can also affect flowering plants.

“A lot of times you can get thrip when they get inside the actual bloom and they take the nutrients out of your blooms, so you’re blooms won’t be as nice.”

Walker recommends getting a three-in-one glandular product to eliminate that issue. She says other plants, like tomato plants, can also suffer from blight. The signs of that include white leaves on the top, or brown leaves at the bottom. To compensate for that, Walker suggests watering them on a more regular basis.