my virginia creeper is definintely dead with those little white flies on it. Now Im wondering if I should take this 20 year old plant off of my pine trees or treat it with something. the flies seem to be going to my garden and in other plants now. it is so sad. the vibrant colors were one of my favorite things in the fall.
Cornhusker, I'm pretty sure it's not dead. I cut mine down when we moved in because I didn't want them on the pines and they sprouted back up. They are doing the same now, I just keep pulling off the sprouts because I'm done with them.
As for treating, you'll have some luck but white flies are notoriously hard to get rid of even though they suck on the plant, so I assume the leafhoppers are as well. (Did you ever look at them to see which ones you have?) Not to mention as you say the flies are branching out onto your other plants.
As for fall color don't be sad, I dunno how your yard is layed out, but there are still plenty of other ways to get fall color. If you have a big space you could plant a full sized red maple. We wanted something smaller and got some Amur Maples from Brittany when she had the nursery. They are more shrubby in form you can also use as a screen or you can train them to a single trunk and grow 15-20'. From the Sunset Western Garden Book "Native to Manchuria, northern China, Japan. Toothed leaves are three lobed, even on mature plants. Clusters of small, fragrant yellow-ish flowers bloom in early spring, those are followed by handsome bright red, winged seeds. Striking red fall color. 'Flame', has especially fiery foliage in autumn." We have 3 Flame and I think another similar variety.
A smaller bush that you may see around town called 'snowball bush' because of the snowball flowers in spring are Viburnum. Depending on the variety, they also have nice fall color in autumn.
Feel free to pm me if you are interested in seeing any of the above. If you are, fall is the best time to plant trees and bushes.
