Joanmary

Beautiful dombeya and beautiful photo.

My dombeya have been flowering nicely this winter after I trimmed them but the leaves are being eating up/destroyed by some bugs I can't find. I haven't seen a grasshopper in several weeks so I am hoping they are in some sort of hybernation or low cycle but I have small holes all over the dombeya leaves. I hate to use Sevin. When I figure out how to post photos I will show what the leaves look like. Not very pretty but the flowers are fine.

Do you have to contend with insects/pests that feast on your plants and do you have any advice on how to control them?

Oh Joanmary, you are so mean to taunt us cold-weather people like that! ;) That picture is so huge and so clear and so luscious that I feel as if I'm sitting under it. It is positively torture not to be able to reach up and sniff....

Mmmm, flowers.

A really great pic, especially for Feb.!

Jim

Thank you for the compliments. Yes, its quite a beauty and a surprise for me as I had no clue what it was - received it during an exchange in Cape Coral, Fl last year. No i.d. tag and bad memory on my part as to its identity!

Mare2, you'd be a little fairy with wings, enjoying shelter from the rain if you were sitting under it! Its only about 2' high! I was on my back taking the pic!

Happ, I don't really use sprays in the garden since I have many butterflies and birds (parrots too - squwkey, noisy beauties) re: the grasshoppers, don't know if its the same where you are, but here if we don't kill them off when they are in the black, immature hopping and very visible stage, nothing short of picking them up with one's fingers & squashing them will kill them. Horrible things, but you'd certainly see them if they were to blame. You are in zone 11 so I presume you'll have similar pests as we do here in zone 10. I had an infestation of night eating worms on my Cestrum Noc. about 1" long with large round black heads. They were vorciferous eaters and I picked them off by hand at night. However, with experience (!) I laid a plastic beneath the shrub before I started to pick them off as they just dropped down to the ground when they felt threatened! Extremely fast movers too.

My Cestrum Diurnum's leaves are horribly ragged and I too have never seen what is eating them. I just leave them to nature as the flowers are not affected, nor the seeds.

Mainly I have aphids which I I try removing by hand, rolling the stem between my fingers with one hand under the area to catch the falling ones (I wear plastic surgical-like gloves). I just squash them.

Black scale: on Telosma Cordata. Lots of sooty mold and here I do use an oil spray. Pretty affective too! I used the commercial one but it stank to high heaven!

I have a couple of 'universal' recipes which you may find handy:
NON OIL:
1t dove or pure Ivory, or pure castile soap.
1 gallon water.

OIL:
1/2 cup Murphys oil + 2T vege oil + a little dish soap+ 1 gall water. No vegetable oil in summer, too heavy!

OIL:
1T Listerene +1T Canola oil +1t non detergent dish soap (castile soap) + 1/2c hydrogen peroxide + 1 gallon water. Spray full strength. Respray 7-10 days later to ensure all the eggs are killed. Check after a couple of days. Remember that the eggs hatch in around a 10 day cycle, so sometimes its necessary to do 3 sprayings to effectively get rid of all of them.

Jim, you have plants we can't even hope to grow here: Hosta's, Dogwoods, Rhodendrons and Azaleas! You will be enjoying a lovely Spring which we can only enjoy in pictures!

J.

You can't grow rhododendrons or azaleas where you live? Even the deciduous/epiphytic types?

Joanmary, Photobucket has an edit feature. Go to the picture and hit "edit" above the picture and then reduce it by 50 percent or 75 percent. You can reduce in size without breaking the link between your picture and GardenWeb. It would be best to reduce the picture, however, before you upload it to Photobucket. That way, you are using up your storage space quickly. The smaller the pictures, the more you can upload without having to upgrade and pay more.

I'm not surprised by not being able to grow rhododendron since they are best suited for cool/wet areas like Oregon/Washington. But azalea always seem to be flowering in California/Hawaii so I figured they do well in Florida also.

I have heard that there is a tropical azalea, but have never seen it. Nor any rhododendrons. They are probably on the 'unusual' or 'rare' side here! I have no clue, though!

Thanks for the info on resizing. I have just received this info on the test forum (thank goodness for people who will lend a hand) and am on my way to learn to use the sizing correctly. Really do appreciate the suggestions. I was scratching my head, not knowing how I was doing this. First no pics, then too much! :)

Clare, just to make sure I understand, I should delete the photos from Photobucket and reload them after I have adjusted the edit size? Just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. First time I'm using Photobucket, not that I was a pro by any means on Webshots!!! As evidence certainly indicates..........Sigh!

JoanMary, you don't have to take them off PB in order to resize them. Here's how it's done:

Look above the picture you want to use while you are signed in(make sure you're signed in), you will see several buttons, choose edit:

{{gwi:785545}}

On the edit page the second option is for resizing:

{{gwi:785547}}

This will not break your links.
HTH

Ah Margaret, that's a relief! I saw the edit button etc, and spent the evening going through the pics, cleaning them up, renaming etc, just in case I had to start over. Thanks.

There are quite a few tropical azaleas/rhododendrons. Fragrantissimum being one of them, I think arborescens may possibly be too, (heliotrope scent). Unfortunately you're not in the uk, so I can't suggest any plant centres that sell them, but if you look at the links, you'll see there's quite a bit of variety with rhododendrons

www.glendoick.com has one of the largest selections, but not as much detail as the below link generally.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rhododendrons

Thanks for the link, RisingPower1.

I began growing azaleas only about a year ago since I have a very shady downslope with very little sun during winter and some summer sun. I haven't paid all that much attention to them but have been pleasantly curious that they seem to be flowering constantly if watered. I posted a question on the azalea board asking what is the season for azaleas since they haven't stopped flowering since I put them in a year ago.

I understand the vireyas rhododendrons are quite suitable for SoCal and that azaleas like indica and kurume hybrids can grow nicely in Hawaii as well.

Joanmary, Nigella explained it beautifully. You can do this now to reduce that huge picture above! You do not have to delete it. I would do this with all of your huge pictures. What I was saying before is, if you reduce them in size before you upload into Photobucket, then you don't have to reduce them using Photobucket, and you will use up less of your Photobucket storage space.

Thanks Clare.

I see you figured it out! Nice job! That is so much better:-)

Clare,

Do you grow rhododendrons? Do your azaleas flower all year?

Hi Happ, No, I don't grow either one.