A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Help with ajuga plants

Last summer around the end of June, I planted a bunch of Ajugas. Towards the end of summer they didn't look so good. They were smaller, leaves had some small holes and they haven't come up at all this year. Sometimes when I watered them, small moth-like insects would fly out. Could that be the problem? I live in Wi. if that helps at all.

The ajuga is also called Bugleweed if that helps out at all.

Ajuga are perrenials, I don't remember the zone they're hardy in, but I think it may be zone 5 or 6. It may be that they're not hardy in your zone. I don't know of any serious pest problems, not in my area, at least.

I'm in zone 5 and the only problem I encounted with Ajuga was that it grew like a weed and was very invasive. It went everywhere and even got into my lawn.

It's made a mess in my yard too. It's all over my lawn. 'Nother job for me tomorrow...dig that stuff up and get it outta' there!

Thanks for the link to Ajuga, BILL!!!! I thought it was a weed (lol) until I saw it in one of my plant books. I pulled a lot of it out in back of our yard in the alley. I can see where it would make a great ground cover. It wasn`t hard to pull because the roots where shallow. This spring I saw it growing in a farmers field when it was in bloom and it was just a gorgous field of purple. I live in zone 6b and they are hardy here. Sue

Anyone who wants to eradicate their ajuga can send it to me!
I have hard clay soil, it doesnt spread extremely fast, and a steep hill I want it to grow on to get rid of the grass so we dont have to weed wack. I love the purple flowers.

If you dont see yours at all I'd say its dead. I'm in Z5 and mine is blooming. You should at least be able to see some leaves.

Wow!! I planted at least 10 ajugas last summer & nothing came up, so I must have done something wrong
Thanks bill for the info.
I think I am in zone 4 so they should be pretty hardy here. Maybe I planted them too deep??
I also planted two dappled willows.
One looks good,but the other is missing half of its leaves. Someone said maybe I planted it too deep.
Well I am a newb, so I am still learning.
I guess I will go buy some more & try it again.
Thank for all your help.
You will hear from me again, very soon I'm sure.
Tammy

Wrennie, I'm in zone 5 and we have the hard clay soil here too. Initially, mine didn't spread very much the first year it was in, but after that it took off and was coming up all over my lawn. For your purpose, I think it would be an excellent choice!

I went & bought more ajugas and planted them again.
Hopefully this time they don't die on me.
I'll keep you all informed.
Thanks for all the help.
Tammy

Update on the Ajugas:
I planted some more about 3 weeks ago.
Some were starting to look like they were dying
already last weekend.
I read that planting them too deep or having them in soil that is not well draining is the most common problems.
I dug up half of them, added peat moss and tried to plant them not as deep.
I'm getting really frustrated because I don't know what I'm doing wrong & I'm wasting money in the process.
Could the problem just be that my soil is not good??
I think I need to hire someone who knows what they are doing to come help me.
Tammy