Hello all,

I am a new homeowner and lawn/garden care is all very new to me. So please bear with me if I seem clueless or ask silly questions.

While out in my yard today I noticed a white substance of several of my bushes. I am not sure what kind of bush I have but I have included a picture. It is not noticeable until you are fairly close, and there is significantly more of the white stuff on the bottom of the branches than on the top (the included picture is of a branch bottom that I am holding up).

From my internet research it seems it could be a number of things but I am leaning toward a scale infestation. If so I am pretty bummed because I hear they are difficult to eradicate and I may be better off replacing the bushes.

Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated!

Pics here: http://imgur.com/QvAr2al,f38f38V

Here is a link that might be useful: imgur link