[gardeners] defoliating artemisias
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 28 Apr 1998 07:39:18 -0600
Okay, I have a mystery here. I've had a potted wormwood on my deck for
months, and finally got DH to plant it at the back of our front flower bed.
Two days later, he asked what had happened to the wormwood. I looked out
the window, and there's a skeletal grey shape where the full wormwood was.
Next to the house, I had a volunteer sagebrush (A. tridentata), about 8"
tall. It's been defoliated too. No insects that I can find, nothing else
bothered. A friend said she had heard of chickens consuming wormwood in an
effort to kill their own parasites. Perhaps so, but that wouldn't account
for the tridentata. We do have tons of California quail who hang out in
that part of the yard. Any ideas? Thanks, Margaret