We are in the second season with a bunch of landscaping. In my rush to keep everything alive through this tough summer I never looked closely at my black eyed susans. They have put out very few flowers (and many of those were eaten by deer) but more importantly the leaves have been turning black and schriveling up. I though that was due to the heat but never really explored it.

In clipping the dead leaves back last night I noticed that many of them, especially the ones that arent dead yet, have sort of a white coating. Particularly underneath the leaves. Once upon a time my mother identified these as aphids, but I am not sure that's right. Anyone have a suggestion on what I should do? If they are aphids or another type of insect I would want to use the least toxic solution I can find.

My other issue is I noticed a small green caterpillar type insect eating my rose bushes. What can I do about that? Thanks in advance.

MorpheusPA wrote: a good pyrethrin-based (derived from chrysanthemum) insect killer will take care of any insects on both plants.

Morph, do you have a big box store brand name for that product?

Just so happens that the Rep from Bartlett Tree was here today to give me an estimate on fertilizing my trees (ouch) and I showed him the white scaley pieces of black eyed susan leaves. He said it was a fungus brought on by our wet/cold spring and that it was too late to do anything now.