Around the garden

There is some work involved but the rewards are well worth it.

Yesterday we collected more than 50 japanese beetles.. Today is cloudier and cooler, so there are not as many around. I do think we probably average 20 a day or more.. Oy.. it's really bad! We already put milky spore in the dirt last year, but it can take a few years before it spreads enough to work... we're also using neem sprays on the plants in the sun (they love sunbathing and humping in the sun)... I also just made some type of garlic spray because supposedly garlic can be a deterrent. lol will try whatever I have to so they stop devouring the plants..

I think I saw a map the other day... and yes, Florida was not in the zone yet. I'm not sure why not because they love the heat!

Thats a good question Heather. I hope there is a good answer and they never come here. We have enough to deal with already.

We have thousands around here. The small little geckos. They do eat a lot of insects.

Insects are everywhere. When I found one in the bed with me, I nearly screamed and jumped out of bed in fear. I killed it straight away.

I will never let my apartment become a bug hotel.

You should sit on my lanai at night. With all the different frogs and alligators i have out back it sounds like I am living in the Amazon Rainforest.

Now that the rains have returned my bananas are doing much better.
imgur.com/L2sNZqy

There are so many different kinds Annie. Some are fuller like the one you show. Mine are usually much better looking but the drought that we have just come out of has really done as number of the leaves.

I would second that!

Oh no... our redbud seems to be dying now. It was doing so well, but it seems the area it is in has very poor drainage, and we had very heavy rains recently. We dug it up to try to rescue it, and we're going to amend the soil further to see if it will help. We're also going to plant it much higher up.... When we dug it up there was so much water just forming in there. There is a lot of clay.. so that is the reason.

I'm pretty sad about my tree... It's so beautiful, and I feel terrible it has been suffocating for days. I hope it will be able to rebound. I know it may not look good for the rest of the year after all this stress.. but maybe it will make it and be back to normal next year.

For an instant I thought it was a fig tree. They appear somewhat similar.

They are, but larger leaves.

Our fig is doing really well just now. Really sprouting...