Friday, July 06, 2007

Mass Destruction

I have been pruning, watering, fertilizing and weeding our front garden this Spring and Summer. The Azaleas and Mountain Laurel were long overdue in the haircut department, so they were lopped back to the point that I was not sure that they would recover. Fear not! They are coming along just fine. We have two glorious Crepe Myrtles in the front garden. All of their new growth was hit hard by the Easter freeze, but they were resprouting nicely and I had high hopes of some late blooms. I went out to chat them up a bit the other day, and just look what I found:
That's about enough to turn my stomach!! Those darned Japanese Beetles have been having a free-for-all at the expense of my Crepe Myrtle! YIKES!!!!


Wonder how those lacy leaves would look sunprinted? May as well make lemonade from lemons, right?




Well, I don't have time for that right now, but wondered if you have Japanese Beetles where you live? If you do, what do you do to prevent such extreme damage as this? If you don't have them, tell me where you live, and I may just come join you!!!




PEACE

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course we don't have them. We don't have bugs and we don't have snakes. Comeon out!! Mr C says he has never seen anything eat a crepe myrtle. The hurricanes did some damage, but they bounced right back.

Judy said...

Gerrie,
I hope you showed Mr C all of the damage those little suckers have bestowed upon my beloved Crepe Myrtle!! Sheeeesh!!!!

Hang on, let me call K & D....we'll all be evacuating on Monday! LOL

Eva Hagbjärn said...

That doesn't look to good!
I don’t think we have creeps like Japanese Beetles here in Sweden, but we do have others and what I’ve heard, people use ordinary soft soap when they got vermin on their plants. Perhaps that’s worth a try. Put some soft soap mixed with water in a spray-bottle and spray all over the bugs! Good luck if you do try!

xo
Oh, by the way, take a look at my blog and you will perhaps get a smile on your face instead of feeling sick over your bugs!

Jeannie said...

Have Gerrie tell you about the slugs in Portland! Seriously, Portland is a beautiful city and I would love to live there. Try some Bayer Tree and Shrub. Japanese beetles are listed on the bottle. It's spendy, but you only use it once a year.

judyinthedyes said...

Hi Jeannie,
Thanks for your comment. I will look for that Bayer tree and shrub. I wish that I could go visit your blog, but when I click on your link, I still cannot access your blog. Help me out here!!!

Judy