From our perspective as Helenium plants, often called Sneezeweed, we thrive in sunny locations with moist soil, bringing vibrant late-season color to gardens. However, our health and beauty can be compromised by several common pests. While we are generally resilient, a severe infestation can weaken us, reduce our flowering, and make us susceptible to other diseases. Understanding these adversaries from our viewpoint is key to maintaining our vigor.
From where we stand, aphids are one of the most frequent annoyances. These tiny, soft-bodied insects, often green or black, congregate in large numbers on our succulent new growth, tender stems, and the undersides of our leaves. They pierce our tissues with their needle-like mouthparts to feed on our vital sap. This draining not only stunts our growth and causes our leaves to curl and distort, but it also creates sticky honeydew. This honeydew attracts ants and, more dangerously, encourages the growth of sooty mold, which blocks sunlight from our leaves, further hampering our ability to photosynthesize and create energy.
Spider mites are a particularly insidious threat because they are so difficult to see from your perspective, though we feel their effects acutely. Thriving in hot, dry conditions, these minuscule arachnids feed on our individual plant cells, often on the undersides of our leaves. Their feeding causes a tell-tale stippling pattern—tiny yellow or white dots—as they drain the chlorophyll from our cells. A severe infestation will leave our foliage looking bronzed, dried out, and lifeless. You might also notice fine, silky webbing covering our leaves and stems, a clear sign of their destructive presence.
For us Helenium plants, especially our young, tender seedlings and new shoots, slugs and snails are a dreaded nighttime menace. These mollusks use their rasping mouthparts to chew large, irregular holes in our leaves. They leave behind a characteristic slimy trail as evidence of their feast. A severe attack can completely defoliate our younger parts, severely setting back our growth and robbing us of the leaf surface area we need to feed ourselves through photosynthesis.
What we need most is proactive and gentle care. A strong jet of water from a hose can effectively dislodge aphids and disrupt spider mite colonies, washing away the honeydew and mites. For persistent problems, insecticidal soaps or horticultural oils are effective treatments that suffocate these soft-bodied pests without leaving harsh residues that could harm our system or the beneficial pollinators we rely on. For slugs and snails, we appreciate diatomaceous earth sprinkled around our base, which creates a barrier that is sharp and desiccating to them, or the use of iron phosphate-based baits which are less harmful to other wildlife. Above all, encouraging a biodiverse garden filled with beneficial insects like ladybugs and lacewings is the best defense, as they see these pests as a food source, not a problem.
