The Tribulations of Gardening!

Good day everyone...  I am so glad it's finally Friday because I'm so over this week!  Let me tell you why.... my balcony garden is infested with Mealy Bugs!!!  Mealy Bugs are these unarmored scale insects that feed on plant sap and juices by affixing themselves to roots and other small plant crevices (like under leaves at the stem).  You can identify these pests by the waxy/powdery/sticky/cotton-like white fuzz they secrete and deposit onto the plant.  In fact, at first it just looks like there is cotton fuzz on your plants, but beware, rub it away and there are those sneaky bugs!   YUCK!  They give me the heebeejeebees!!!  Anyway, by now you might know just how much I love my garden and my plants, so as you can imagine this is VERY upsetting!  Tonight when I get home I must arm myself with this "Sevin" pest spray that I picked up at Home Depot today during my lunch break and fire away at all my plants, grrr!

My mother, grandmother and cousin, along with many friends have reassured me that I can kill them with dish soap diluted in water, but I have read this could lead to something called phytotoxicity, plus I am so worried about my succulents that I want to kill all these bugs the first time around!  Anyway, it appears the outbreak occurred in my strawberry pot herb garden and now the little creepers are spreading (jumping that is) to all of my other plants!  Suffice it to say I'm frantic and bothered, particularly because my garden has been doing so so well!  I guess these are the growing pains of gardening huh!?

Here is my infested strawberry pot, notice the white specs, particularly all over the perennial butterfly-attracting plant at the top (pictured below).  As you can see it was thriving in this post from a while back, but has since declined in health.  

At first I noticed that the herbs were looking ragged at the base of the stems, then I saw the cotton stuff.  By this point I had already transferred the largest basil plant to a new pot  (pictured in this post) since it was too big for the strawberry pot and beginning to droop under its weight, however I can see that it too has mealy bugs.  I must save this basil plant because it is huge now and it would be a sad loss.  But, the rest of the strawberry pot is getting trashed, I figure with the way it's looking and things are dying the whole thing could be infested inside and is probably not worth the trouble.  The Thyme dried up into a brown crisp long ago from the sun (I guess) and the other remaining Basil plant is so small that it has not survived the mealy bugs, the Italian Parsley I'll transfer to its own small pot.  

That's right, say goodbye to my strawberry pot herb garden, but never fear, next time you see her she will be cleaned out and filled with succulents and cacti!!  I can't wait to show you that... but first I must do it, hehe...  Speaking of which, tomorrow I will be going to some plant nurseries out in Homestead, Florida with my mom, my aunt and my grandmother to look for plants (well, I'm only going with succulents on the brain of course)!  When we come back home we'll have a gardening and decorative planter making extravaganza!  Yay, can't wait!

What else, what else?  Oh!  I found a 24"x24" Mid Century Modern Ottoman on Craigslist for $10!  I am going to pick it up today after work, I can't wait to reupholster it and share the before and after with you - my plans are to reupholster it using a gorgeous Suzani! 

And last, the beautiful plant pictures in this post are from my grandmother's garden, we aren't sure what the plant is called except that it's in the Yucca family and of course, it's GORGEOUS!  Just look at those fuchsia flower stalks!  Stunning!  Thankfully the lighting and conditions were perfect, plus it had just rained, and my iphone took a pretty decent picture! 

If anyone knows the name of the plant pictured in this post OR has any tips for dealing with Mealy Bugs I would appreciate your feedback.  Thank you :)

Have a great weekend!  Wish me luck with my bug massacre!

Here is an image of the steps at the back door which my aunt just had extended and pretty distressed railings added on....  You can read more about this beautiful home and garden in this post and this post....

I took this one while looking up at the sky through the trees, my little window to the universe... :)

(All images in these post are my own personal images)