Annalyssa, I went on vacation a few years back in Tuscany, in a little town in between Viareggio, Lucca, and Pisa, and was bowled over by the beautiful gardens and near-edible earth. There was a very friendly approach to the plant world there that I'm not familiar with up here in northern Italy, and it may be part of a larger different approach to gardens down where you live. Italians do cultivate their gardens to a fare-thee-well, as you describe, but where I live the results tend to be unfortunate from an aesthetic point of view, all order and no beauty (to cite the immortal Mark Twain, they have no blemish except that they are all blemish), and displaying little affection for plants as such. It sounds like Tuscans handle this style of gardening much more successfully. The natural and agricultural landscape here is beautiful, but it's purely a side effect. Italians in my experience tend to prune too much, do everything too much. The idea that sometimes the best thing to do in the garden is nothing is foreign to their way of thinking. I'm a minimalist gardener, as I said. I decided when I began my garden here that I wanted to see what kind of results I could get if I didn't spray, didn't water after the first year, used only organic amendment. Of course all this is based on an idea of environmental sustainability. My big mistake throughout has been not digging good enough holes, not adequately amending our soil, which is mostly pottery-quality gray clay. My problems and mistakes are endless, but the garden is beginning to look a little, here and there, like a garden. And I still think that I'm basically on the right track, given my tastes and goals. I LOVE your description of "Nature strong-armed into submission"! That's it exactly! Though it sounds like it works better where you live than up here. It sounds like you have access to some beautiful gardens. "Ruggine" refers to rust only, in my experience; however, it could be that local usage in your area employs the word for any kind of fungal disease. Black spot is "macchia nera"; mildew is "oidio" or "mal bianco". I'm enjoying talking about Italian gardening with another North American. Melissa This post was edited by melissa_thefarm on Fri, Jul 12, 13 at 14:14

I was horrified when suddenly I noticed a branch on my Alyogyne Huegelii...blue Hibiscus...full of black bumps!!!! Upon further examination I found it over all the branches but one young one, all the way down to the soil. They were clustered in places and more spread out in others. Some about 1/8 inch. Also, some were not totally black, but the overall look was blackish or gray. I took them all off by hand. Some were squishy and many were dry and crispy. None of my other plants have them thank goodness. I don't know if my picture is too dark, but the silhouette may be telling...Some almost look fuzzy!!? This was the worst branch.

Thank you watergal, I will definately isolate it and clean it up, I'll try the shower first as well and then spray it. I took an old toothbrush and tried to scrub some of 'it' off of a small area, whatever the stuff is it's really hard to remove. There are no aphids and there aren't any white flies, so far... but if it's eggs then maybe they just haven't hatched yet. The leaves seem to be the only area unaffected so far. Fortunately it's warm enough where I am now that I can place it outside again, so if it's eggs on there, they won't hatch in my house!! If all else fails, I'll give my baby up for adoption to someone with less fear of bugs in their house over the winter! Thanks again for your help!

This is too late for this year, but come spring, come to the Edmonton Horticultural Society plant swap. Usually the weekend after the May long weekend.