Plant Ailments - Real and Imagined!
For many people everything unexpected or strange on a plant or in its appearance is a disaster - at least a disaster in-the-making! But that's simply not true.
The Fact is that most of these things are either totally harmless or require no more than the knowledge of their cause, benefits or benign nature - and simply picking off the offending leaf is sometimes all that is necessary!
For instance, the header picture on this page is Albinism on a holly (Ilex aquifolium) bush - a genetic condition which is often responsible for many of the lovely variegated plants in our gardens. Here the bush was cut down and the new shoots all grew without any chlorophyll in them at all. More a lesson in pruning techniques than a garden disaster.
The small picture above is the spore stage of a Myxomycete. Sometimes called Slime Molds, these are more closely related to animals than fungi and plants, but as far as gardeners are concerned are harmless to their flowers, fruit and vegetables. In reality they are also fascinating organisms, with fascinating life cycles.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slime_mold)
Let's have a look at a few more examples of so-called plant 'diseases' - real and imagined - in this section . . .