I'll be bringing in stuff tonight and the rest of the week. We are supposed to have temps in the TWENTIES!! The coldest in a decade. Going to buy hay to pile around some of the plants, stuff will come in that has never been in before. I have a hoya that is growing up the trees, along the ground and wound around the hook it hangs on, I'm thinking of just cutting off the parts up in the tree & along the ground, yanking up/down/out whatever I can. Then I can bring the plant pole & all in the house. Otherwise it will die. Geez I hate this! Ya'll stay warm. I know what you mean, every year I think about getting a shade house or a greenhouse and never do. This may be the winter that finally gets us off our rears & do it huh? The bf is just as much a plant nut so he'll be bringing in bonsai, he's already working out how to cover some of the bigger plants. Tally Ho!

Hep! it is indeed mealybugs, I took a closer look and I certainly see little bugs, they are powdery white but has small legs, when I wipe with alcohol they become dirt yellow smudge... the hoya is hanging in a small closet with a northern window- my husband just peeked over my shoulder, not east as I said before.. I have other plants in there for winterstorage, my hibiscus looks like it has a bit of 'spiderweb on it- I know it is a pest but do not know what the name is. My irises that was delivered a bit too late to put in the ground last fall is in there too, One of them was filled with small lice. I sprayed it down with the chrystanmentum spray and it seemed like it did the job. I decided To make a fast sweep of the houseplants and realize that the grape ivy too has white clusters (stems , leaves, underleaves) I look at the passiflora and detect a bit of spiderwebbing. I move on to the bedroom and my hibiscus in there is too affected by webs I am afraing to take down my green hoya... ahmm. went and bought isoprpyl at the pharmacist, could only find 71% / 90% I got the lower number and diluted with water. now it's war! any takes on dealing with the buggers in the soil? should I start watering with soap? can I use dishdetergent water? which soaps to avoid??? thanks klk *I don't know what systemic is but do not like the name, sounds like something I do not want in the house...*

Very Pretty Jan and Jo!! Congrats to you both, I just LOVE serpens flowers, have a small rooted cuttings of Mathilde and love the leaves, I just wish Mathilde flowers were closer to the Serpens. Seems a lot easier for me in(Fl) to grow the Mathilde than Serpens,not as finicky...but the blooms are so worth it! Thanks for sharing!

wow..mabelding that is what we had hoped to do but life interfered. I have the hardbound copy of Parks Directory of the US 5th Ed. it is amazing. I was lucky to get the used library edition for $15.00. You can find every single park and historic site and every natl. park ...every single thing but local and county parks in it. I found the local ones when I looked at the others online as they were referenced. It is an amazing book. It is still current even though it is 5 th ed. Not much has changed and you can look up on line after you find what you want in the book. I mapped out a 400 mi per day trip by using the maps for each state. went from park to park. You can probably find it at your local library. Here is a link. If you go to GA/FL let me know before as we have been everywhere and can give details. ((())) Good Luck and I will keep your link ! c here is the exact book I have...free download !! Here is a link that might be useful: Parks Directory