Mostly dying hibiscus
The hibiscus are not looking chipper these days. I have struggled to keep them healthy, usually spending a great deal of time consulting sites on the internet. I have gone to Home Depot for all sorts of remedies and even tried home-made ones. I’m pretty good at identifying the problems but this time I’m out of solutions.
More and more I’m beginning to notice similarities between my yard and Ancient Egypt during the time of Moses when he was working Pharaoh for the big exit by the Hebrews.
The following has nothing to do with religious beliefs, it’s just an analogy. If you are not familiar with them they are plagues of: blood, frogs, lice or gnats, flies or wild animals, pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and firstborn.
The Comparison:
Blood. Okay, I cut myself a couple of times but the water did not turn to blood so that’s not a match. Moses 1 : yard 0.
Frogs. Tree frogs fall or jump all the time. They’re like an amphibious assault. Also, baby frogs overwhelmed us this past summer. I would say that’s a match.
Lice or gnats. All the hibiscus plants have had spider mites and we had a severe gnat problem early summer. Match.
Flies or wild animals. The hibiscus had white flies. Match.
Pestilence. A number of my plants had various fungi. I think that qualifies as a match.
Boils. My roommate had a boil and her teenage son had a bad case of cold sores. Match.
Hail. We had hail on a couple of occasions this past summer and a few weeks ago with a rain storm. Match.
Locusts. Talk about locusts! They ate most of the leaves on the trees and some of my plants. That’s a match.
Darkness. Every night here there’s total darkness. Come on, give me this one. I think I remember an eclipse. Match.
Firstborn. I can’t take this one–the firstborn dying. I can’t say with any certainty that the creatures that live in my yard lost any of their firstborn. No match.
So, my yard matches 8 out of 10 plagues– 80%. Now that’s what I call a Biblical Proportion.
the EXCESSIVE GARDENER 
I hate white flies… love the post!
Thank for stopping by. People seem to like wacky or weird rather than posts that inform. I have another blog on wp and on tumblr (haven’t written anything there yet). I accidently signed up for a blog and bought a theme. Don’t ask. Keep the chapters coming.
You just need to find your people. There are lots of blogs that just do one thing. That lady that they made the movie about… the one who did a Julia Child recipe a day for example. You have humor and information.
Hibiscus does not like us we have bought at least 10 through the years, and they all died. We can not grow Bouganvilla killed about 10 of those as well.
Hibiscus are tough to maintain. They like sun but need shade as well. It it’s really hot they need water every day sometimes twice a day.They are prone to white flies and spider mites. Snails will eat them as well as grasshoppers and caterpillars. Bougainvillea need more shade and humidity. You can grow both indoors.