Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Unruly Houseguests

I've offered to take in two houseguests for the winter. They've been staying in the spare room for a couple of months now, and they've been pretty quiet. They don't hog the bathroom, and they never raid the refrigerator in the middle of the night. The puppy likes to play tug-of-war with them, and they do a pretty good job of protecting the kitten when the puppy gets too rough. A few weeks ago, though, they started overstepping their bounds by inviting guests of their own. First only a few, then more and more. My attempts so far to evict the new guests have not been successful, so I may soon have to resort to drastic measures. That's right: genocide.

The houseguests are 4 foot ivy topiaries, and the guests they've invited in are aphids.

I've used insecticidal soap twice, but to no avail. Unfortunately, using something stronger will require dragging the topiaries outside first, and they're not lightweights. The weather's supposed to be pretty warm this week, though, so I may attempt it.

Don't you hate it when houseguests have to be physically dragged from the premises?

Posted by The Gradual Gardener :: 7:23 AM :: 1 Comments:

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