Crafting My Bliss

The pests are giving me a hard time and may also be killing my plants. In recent years I’ve had to deal with rabbits and ground hogs. They eat my lilies, marigolds, and pepper plant leaves. They are simply menacing. This year it’s the same, only with different plants. My sweet potato plant leaves, impatiens, and daisies seem to be a delicious meal for them. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Japanese beetles are also eating my newly planted canna lilies, roses and cala lilies.

I have been growing cala lilies for about three years and they have never looked as beautiful and full. Then I noticed that something was eating the leaves. When I was watering my plants recently, I noticed that my canna lilies were not looking good. The petals were dying off pretty quickly and when I got closer, I saw about ten shiny bugs covering the flowers. Then as I walked through the garden to inspect all the plants, I noticed that these bugs were feasting on my lilies and my roses.

I immediately went into the house and googled what they could be, and one of the first pests that popped up were Japanese beetles. The quickest solution I could find with what I had on hand was to spray the plants with soapy water. I made up the solution and sprayed the plants. I killed most of them, but since they fly, some of them were able to escape. Now I have to figure out how to protect my plants from these pesky bugs. I have some summer travel coming up so I’m very worried about how to protect the plants while I’m away.

I am currently looking for a solution for the bugs and animals. Over the next few weeks I’m going to try a few things. I hope I can find something sustainable.