Goodbye Hibiscus

Sometimes you have to make a choice on what plants you have to banish from your garden - even when you've struggled for years on trying to save it. I used to grow pumpkins for years but I finally gave up because there's quite a few varieties of bugs here that attack the pumpkin. I loved growing them and sometimes I miss them but the aggravation of trying to save the pumpkins just drives me nuts.

Well, a choice was made today. The hibiscus is to be exiled and never to return to my kingdom.




Why? Because of these...



Sawflies. I've tried and tried to get rid of these suckers but it just ain't working. Sevin worked like a miracle but it required a huge fence around the three so that the dogs couldn't brush up against them. Once the plants get big and start blooming, I stop spraying because I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of bees and butterflies coming up to the plant and getting poisoned.

My fingers were crossed that the cold winter would kill these buggers but it hasn't done a thing. There's a huge cloud of 'em over the trio and it was a nightmare trying to get pictures when they were getting all over my legs and arms. Ugh.

I tried. I tried but ain't no saving them. They have to go.

And of course, an obligatory macro picture just to make sure the silly thing is functioning...

Hibiscus - Pink

Hibiscus - Pink
Originally uploaded by dragonslumber

I just posted seven pictures of three colors of Hibiscus in my Flickr album. Figured I'd give an update instead of reposting the pictures in this blog.

A look around the yard today...

Hibiscus

The hibiscus are starting to grow in real good. This group is always the first to come and always the first to grow before the other two can catch up.


Sawfly

And it appears the battle has begun. There's several sawflies swarming around this one. Oy. I have to start applying sevin spray as that's the only thing that has ever worked on the buggers.


Iris


Iris

You know, I still can't figure out how to pollinate them? Can anyone tell me what I'm supposed to do here? I imagine that toilet-brush looking thing is the anther that I'm supposed to pluck. Where do I apply this thing to pollinate the flower?


Mini Tomato Grow Kit

At first when the seeds came up, it didn't resemble anything like a tomato plant. Then the extra leaves grew in and now they look like tomato plants. According to the instructions, I'm to start giving them fertilizer when they're 2" and then separate when they're 5".


Wisteria

I plucked a few wisteria seedlings and figured it'd be neat to take a picture of one to show y'all.

Random Garden Stuff

Luckily for me, I was able to borrow a camera. I don't know how long I'll be without my own camera but I hope it won't be for too long. In the meanwhile, on with the pictures I took...


Amaryllis

Sorry MrBrownThumb. You're gonna hate this but I have no specific names on these either! hehehe. The big bulb in the middle sprouted all these babies around it. Towards the 'front' are two bulbs I got from a friend. One of them is sending up two buds. She thinks it's yellow but she said in all the time she had it, it's never bloomed (except she has one blooming this year so we're going to be sharing the surprise.).


Clematis


Hibiscus

Pretty soon, there's going to be three huge bushes and tons of blooms. Not only that but there'll be a very huge war against the sawflies as well. I have sevin spray that I'll be using. It's the only thing that worked against the sawflies last year after I've done many other safer attempts due to the dogs. There's now a fence keeping the dogs out so I may be able to spray more diligently.


Lilies

I'm surprised they're coming up. They were doing badly last year in another part of the yard so I relocated them this spring. I didn't think they'd come up. Now I'm wondering if they'll bloom.


Roses

The roses were also relocated because they've been doing very badly the past few years. They haven't bloomed in so long and it's to the point that I honestly can't tell you what color(s) they are. I finally relocated them to this spot and I'm hoping they'll do much much better and actually bloom.

Hibiscus Bed

These were the hibiscus that I talked about in my previous entry. They tend to grow very big with lots of blooms - that is before the sawflies discovered them.

I'm glad it was cool today. I removed the old mulch and laid down newspapers in order to suffocate weeds from coming back. I also read that it attracts worms when the newspaper breaks down. True or not, beats me. I finally applied fresh mulch over the newspaper.

Gardening Plans.

Quite a bit has been done this year so far. I've been itching to plant various seeds that's been building up on the windowsill in the kitchen. So far there are some bell pepper, pear, grapefruit, pumpkin, and some type of squash. I don't know how many will grow this year as they've been on the windowsill for a long time. For example, the pumpkin seeds have been there since at least halloween as I saved them before I cooked the rest of the seeds.

So far, the lilies and roses have been relocated to new beds. The other bed they were in was always in shade and they weren't getting enough water. They're now back in a sunny area and I'm hoping they'll do extremely well this year.

What I'm really concerned about are the hardy hibiscus. The first few years, they've grown very huge and had lots of blooms. Over the past few years, sawflies discovered them and last year was -really- bad. These little caterpillar-like larva ate every single leaf till they were just lacy. There was a huge cloud of sawflies over the hibiscus as well. The hibiscus died down to the ground and had enough energy to shoot out again.

All kinds of things were done to try to stop them. Finally, as a last resort, The sevin spray was purchased and it's done excellent. The problem is, there is so much concern about the dogs that a big fence has to be set up around the three hibiscus that are planted in the ground. I'm hoping to beat the sawflies this year by spraying as soon as the hibiscus in the ground starts coming up.



I have two hardy hibiscus growing in pots. The three hibiscus growing in the ground is Red, White, and Pink. I took the seeds from one hibiscus and out of all the seeds, a couple grew and only two survived. What surprised me is that when they bloomed, they were different flower colors. I can't recall right now but I think one was pink and the other was red. Sadly, I can't even remember what plant I took the seeds from.

The secret with Hibiscus seeds is to plant them as soon as the pod pops open because the seeds don't stay viable for very long.



I feel bad for this English Ivy. This has to be the most -neglected- plant I have. It's been hanging from a shepherd's hook in the same spot of the yard for years now. Not only has the wire that holds up the pot has rusted but some sort of green algae has grown around the outside of the pot. Every year I just look at it and ignore it. Lots of the dirt is missing and now it seems that it may not be hanging on much longer. I'm gonna go repot this thing... soon.