Busy Sunday

The weekend was so warm and nice, I turned off the heater, and opened all the windows and doors. You know, as a gardener, warm spring like days will make us restless. So, I did what I wanted to do for a while, giving all my plants a shower. Of course, not including my huge Norfolk Pine and the Palm. As I was washing them, I noticed something I really don't like. My star jasmine has both spider mites and scales, another jasmine has pretty bad spider mites infection, and my dear gardenia has mealybugs! I know this winter I have been very lazy, and didn't have time to check on them as often. I noticed leaf dropping, but thought it's just because of the low humidity, and underwatering. Now I know why. I don't really care about spider mites, they are so easy to get rid of. Just spray with water every other day, break their reproduction cycle, they will be gone soon. Mealybugs are little bit harder, but after a nice shower, and spray with some rubbing alchohol, OK maybe several times, they will be gone too. But I hate scales!!!! They hide under their shells, and super hard to get rid off totally. Even if I killed or removed all the adults, there still could be tons of their eggs or babies hiding between the leaves and stems. I tried my best on these three infected plants, and washed all the others just in case. I will have to do this again tomorrow, and Tuesday. I cannot wait any longer, I want spring to start tomorrow! Then I can move all my plants on to my deck, where I can shower them everyday easily! And I can probably get some help from ladybugs too.

Ok, talking about the weather, guess what I woke up to this morning. More snow! It was so nice during the weekend, I am not ready for snow again! Well, at least it will be no more than 3", easier to deal with. Just I forgot to close one of my car's window, and it rained first last night. Hope I can dry it up quickly before mold or meldew starts to grow. Guess we are not that lucky! Just hope we won't get a April Fool's snow storm again this year. I want to move my plants out as soon as I can, normally after Mother's Day, and only then can I start putting the baby nursery together. Oh, forgot to mention that I have a second self in that room, with lots of plants too. I have to downsize my plant collection this year, big time. Maybe I will only keep my orchids, jasmines, gardenia, clivia, and some of those succulents I really like, and let all the others go or die. Who need 60+ indoor plants anyway. We will see.