Saturday, November 7, 2009

Violets & Gnats

My pretty violet plant is thriving on the windowsill. Unfortunately, so is the gnat population.

gnat violet plant bug
The pesky little flying bugs seem to like the damp soil and standing water in the violet pot. After some Googling for suggestions to help control the bugs, I implemented these two changes.
  1. I am trying to capture and remove the larvae by placing a potato slice on the soil and keeping it wet. The gnats are supposed to like putting their next generation in the potato. So then when I pick it out and toss it, the kids are supposed to go along.
  2. I place a small amount of Mosquito Dunks into the watering can I use to keep the plant wet. The bacillus ingredient is natural and non-poisonous, so it seemed like a good thing to try.
After using these treatments for about 3 weeks, I don't see much of a difference in the gnat population. I'll keep trying though !!

violet plant gnat
Do any of my readers have suggestions that have worked for them? Please leave a comment with the information if you can help. Thanks !!!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

☆ Holiday Flowers ☆

I think I've started thinking about the holidays a bit early this year. Maybe because of the two batches of snow we have received already here in Colorado. I made a few holiday flowers for my etsy shop, including these roses and a single poinsettia bloom.



I was also lucky enough to snag a treasury this morning, so I filled it with red poinsettia flowers. Here's a picture of the treasury:


Maybe all this holiday talk will bring us weeks of warm weather. That would be great !!