who knew that was the name of a spider plant.. lol ... well??? .. apparently salty the wizard ... ken

I think your plant is Ficus elastica. Here is a link that might be useful: Ficus elastica

I second the Liatris spicata. Liatris scariosa is a significantly harder to find plant, and L. spicata has a much more compact raceme (flowering head). The one in the photo is way too compact to be anything but L. spicata. Also L. scariosa tends to be a much paler purple than L. spicata. The yellow flower looks like some sort of daylily, but there are thousands of sorts out there, so it'd be difficult to guess the cultivar name. BP

I have been spraying them and it doesnt seem to be getting any worse...all newer leaves are free from scale also.. ==>> you know.. a dead scale looks jsut like a live one.. the dead carcass isnt going to magically disappear ... and the fact that the ants left.. might be your second clue they are dead ... ants harvest honeydew from some scale ... put on a glove.. and wipe off all the scale ... and observe... and i think.. put away the chems for a while.. potting media.. NEVER reuse it.. its spent.. its not a scale issue ... besides scale doesnt live in the media ... ALWAYS sterilize all pots before use or reuse.. 10% bleach will do the trick ... i usually sterilize my potting media also.. especially if used indoors .. see link ... which would solve your scale worry.. but for it being old used up media ... jsut throw it in the compost pile ... media is engineered from a multitude of things.. and those things breakdown.. and dont do their job properly.. so its not worthwhile to reuse it ... drainage is usually the prime need for media.. and as peat and bark.. etc.. breakdown.. water will be 'held' vs drained.. leading to future problems.. its the predictability.. that makes use easy ... and when it gets old.. you cant predict ... and .. of course.. those damaged leaves will not recover ... but as long as they are green.. they are processing sunlight ... the future is in the buds ... i didnt know citrus had one inch thorns.. i think i got all your questions ... ???? ken Here is a link that might be useful: a lot of peeps here mock me for such.. but hey.. it should put your mind at ease ... if nothing else ....