hey welcome to GW .... first.. see link next.. is your product labeled for monthly use?? and that aside.. the mature ones are impervious to any treatment with their waxy coating.. and you must ID when the babes crawl out and are susceptible to the oil ... and that is once a year .. not monthly ... you are wasting product/money.. if nothing else ... third.. ants are usually around.. to 'milk' honeydew from whatever it is ... they are irrelevant to it all ... and the black is usually a mold as a result of the honeydew ... in other words.. get rid of the scale.. the ants will move on.. and sooner or later the mildew will go away ... the real problem.. is that the mature ones.. look no different if they are dead or alive.. just because you kill them.. doesnt mean they are going to disappear ... and frankly.. when it comes to this point.. i usually have a hard time 'looking' at them for years to come ... and it is then i think about cutting them down ... now i know nothing about this plant.. as i didnt even know it existed before your post ... but if it is like many hedges or flowering shrubs.. there is probably no reason you couldnt cut them to near ground level.. remove EVERYTHING.. treat the stumps for remnants of scale ... and within a few months.. just about have your hedge back .. since there is no insult to the root mass ... and in the meanwhile.. have removed 99.99% of the problem ... [i would burn it.. and find some satisfaction in sending them to the Elysian fields ...funeral pyre and all that ..]... hopefully you can find out if rejuvenation pruning' is an option with this plant .. good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

If you're looking for a lilly-pilly/ syzygium of no more than medium height, you couldn't go past Acmena smithii minor 'cherry surprise', which is a particularly lovely one to 2 to 3 metres. It's an attractive deep green in colour, with pink to red tips. Another lovely one, though perhaps not as hardy, is Acmena variegata, which grows to 3 metres. Nice, natural shape, dense in leaf. There' also a number of syzygiums worth considering, just make sure they are psysilid resistant. In fact there is one on the market named 'Resilence'. Worth a try. B

I'm sorry I really can't tell what's happening with those patches on the leaves. Salt build-up? insect eggs? My first suggestion is to take all the pics and some leaf samples back to where you bought the plants, and see what they can suggest. It may just be transplant shock. Maybe the location of the tubs is more exposed than where they were kept, and they are struggling to harden off. I can't really tell what the material of the planters is... if concrete there'd be some possible leaching? Maybe just the narrow pots and exposure is too hot? Could be over or under watering, too much fertilizing, probs with the potting mix. suggest you take some samples of all, including the potting mix brand, back for help from the providers.

Is that W. floribunda? If so, it grows to around 30 metres tall. (I know you said you'd prune it as a hedge, but then you'll lose any weeping characteristics.) And if you plant Clivea behind that Box hedge, it'll be lower than the hedge and never seen. I reckon it's already over-crowded as it is (or will be once those Waterhousea get going), and no way there'll be room for Hydrangeas between those trees. They'll be touching each other in no time. If you're planning on selling the house in a year or 2, go for it. If you want to stay there longer, I'd suggest restraint...