Brug with spider, upper left! Second set of blooms to open. Cool mornings to thank. Due for 100° soon, and spider mites!

Very nice.Spider mites are a way of life here.

I think I've decided to keep the ones that bloom consistently, and give the other away. I have some that I received for postage years ago (2008) that are big, "Y'd," and have never bloomed. I'm not going to worry and fuss over them anymore. They get bugs and I fret, pull out the big guns (3-in-1), and they still don't bloom. Naughty Nick looks like it might bloom this summer, but the rest are not looking promising. Some just gave up the ghost over winter one year! Eternity has been blooming beautifully, already has a second flush. i think it has something to do with our unbearably dry heat the past two summers.

I just can not abide the concept of spider mite taking over my back yard. Have you tried the soap (real soap in dish washing liquid) in water, putting it into a end hose sprayer and going to town on your yard. Hate to see you give up your babies.

I have a first bloom... took the pics 6/18-6/19
This cutting was planted in the garden last Autumn.

Far enough south, and we can leave these things outside... Sidestep that entire spider mite / aphid thing that happens in the house...

Bubbles said:I think I've decided to keep the ones that bloom consistently, and give the other away. I have some that I received for postage years ago (2008) that are big, "Y'd," and have never bloomed.

Where's the line?

It's lovely, but you still need to be vigilant on the spider mites. True, they won't be in the house though.

All mine are outside year 'round, too. Every spring I do battle with the spider mites. The brugs are the only plants in my garden that get them.

A spray with soapy water every week or so might help minimize an infestation.

Stone, your brug looks very healthy and happy!

As long as we get a little rain and mornings are fairly cool, the brugs are happy. It's when the temps reach 100° in the afternoons, and there's no rain, that things start to get buggy. That begins in mid-June here and runs until mid-October. They'll blooms for about another month. Then it's time to begin cutting the brugs back for winter. It's a love/hate relationship! I have lots of tropicals in my garden, none get spider mites other than the brugs. It doesn't help that we live on a limestone outcropping. We had to have the dirt trucked in so we could plant anything years ago. We constantly have to add compost, etc.

Gardening is fun, right?