Help!!!! …, there is a white coating on the Mandevilla Vines! The coating is not on the whole vine, but at the base of the vine…next to the dirt…on the brownish wooden twigs!
I took my cup of tea out to my Secret Garden this morning and as usual I had to say hello to all my plants! I especially talk to the Mandevilla vines because I am coaxing them to climb higher on the pergola… to fulfill my vision of the top and all four posts of the pergola to be draping and dripping with their huge pink hibiscus-like blooms all interlaced with their bright green leaves! Sigh! 
You say you don’t talk to your vines? Hmmmmm…I do! I like to do things like that!
I know you must have certain visions or dreams of what your garden will look like when it is all grown up?
I remember in the Midwest I always planted old-fashioned lilac bushes and white spirea because I loved the May Baskets we made (as kids) for May Day!
On the first day of May….we would take construction paper and shape it like a cone… scotch tape or glue the sides and staple a little strap… also made of construction paper…to use as a handle! Then we would scout around for flowers !
(Lilacs and Spirea grew in almost every yard and we had plenty) We would put those lovely, fragrant, purple lilacs (which I couldn’t stop smelling…they are addictive) and a sprig of white Spirea, plus a couple of pieces of wrapped candy in each basket. The pics below show paper flowers but we used the real deal!
We would run to a neighbor or friend’s house and leave our little May Basket on the stoop…or hooked on the doorknob if your construction paper was strong enough… and ring the doorbell and run like crazy to hide before we were seen. What fun we had making those little May Baskets!
The point is…it takes about 7 years for old-fashioned lilacs to produce their first cluster of blooms…so I dreamed of huge 15 foot bushes laden with gorgeous, sweet-smelling lilacs!
See…I have been garden dreaming a long, long time!
The Spirea bushes were very hardy and would produce fragile stems of teeny, tiny, white flowers that worked so well as a “fill in” along with the Lilacs.
As an adult, the sad truth is that we moved so much, I never got to see the complete development of those memory producing smells. Whoever, bought our home(s)…reaped the rewards of the Lilacs! 🙁
BUT…here in Florida…plants grow 24 hours a day as the temp at night is usually just a little lower than during the day and so plants flourish! I can transplant something like a small orange tree and it doesn’t skip a beat! It likes all the sandy soil and in a couple of weeks, one can never tell that it wasn’t in its original planting spot.
Garden Dreams are easy in Florida!
So you can see why I have high hopes, dreams and aspirations regarding the covering of the Pergola with those magnificent vines. They are already up to the top of the Pergola in just 9 months!
But! Ugh! what is this white, powdery like coating???? And more importantly, what should I do to get rid of it? I hope it is not fatal!
Does anyone know about this gardening problem?
Thanks….
By the way….I can’t grow Lilacs in Florida or so I have been told….the plant needs cold..like a tulip
…I can’t grow tulips in Florida either!
🙁
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