El Mundo de las Princesas, Muñecas y Peluches

I was very disappointed the other day to discover that Japanese beetles had developed a taste for my impatiens. For years they've been eating my yellow loosestrife down to the bare veins, and they really liked my fireweed too. But this is the first year they've gone after my impatiens....

It's an especially big disappointment, since it's the first year I have the regular impatiens in my backyard again. I thought the disease had passed, so bought them again.

A few years back, there was a fungal disease that totally wiped out all the impatiens. First they'd look droopy and the leaves would turn yellow, and then the plants would look 'cooked'. All the undersides of the leaves would be covered with a white mold. Every single plant died.

So the next two years I bought the New Guinea type of impatiens instead, as they weren't vulnerable to the disease. But they just didn't have the flowers and colours of the regular variety. So I was so very happy that some test plants did really well last year, and I went for them again big time this year. The plants were all doing really well....

But then the other day I discovered the Japanese beetles on them, eating the flowers and leaves...

Well, the battle was on. I did some research and discovered that the best way to get rid of them is to just 'hand pick' them and drown them in a pail of soapy water - but not with bare hands, as they have a nasty, painful bite, that takes months to heal.

Then to make matters even worse, I discovered signs of the white mold on several of my plants. My garden looked so beautiful too, and now it was doomed - if not from the beetles, then definitely from the mold. So I went out and took all kinds of photos, before everything is gone....