Pest battle with Black Baccara — and how I won

I had a serious problem with aphid infestations on new growth on my Black Baccara earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate strong disease-resistant root stock, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a trellis or pergola for climbing varieties and improved my attention to pruning to an outward-facing bud at a 45-degree angle. hips forming in autumn for wildlife interest was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.