40 Flower, Plants, and Trees That Attract Japanese Beetles

The natural predictors that keep Japanese Beetles from ruining plants in their native Japan do not exist here in the United States. That’s what makes Japanese Beetles so difficult to control and kill. 

One of the best and most organic and natural ways to keep Japanese Beetles from eating and killing the plants in your yard is to simply remove the plants that attract Japanese beetles from your home and landscaping. If you have a Japanese beetle problem in your garden, you might want to thing twice about keeping or planting the following flowers, shrubs, vines, plants, and trees in your yard.

Eighteen Flowers, Shrubs, and Vines That Attract Japanese Beetles

How to Make a Wine Glass Chandelier

I’m on the hunt for a pendent fixture for my dining room. There are so many designs (and subsequent price tags) to choose from to get the Mid-century-Bauhaus -Contemporary-Found-And-Funkified-Retro- DaDa-Danish style (bonus points to you if you know that DaDa is a design movement and not just what babies call their fathers) that I’m going for in The Condo. I found a fun overhead pendant light in the Chandelini. I love that it’s a ball of martini glasses – a fun addition to any room in the house.

However as much as I love the Chandelini right now I’m not sure if this is a piece that I’d love forever. At $6000.00, I know that Husband would insist that I love it forever.

Fabulous Flamingo Front Porch

During the first summer in our Condo, I wanted to sit on our front porch and watch the world go by. (That is, until the temperature hit 90+ degrees, then I’d watch the world go by looking out of the window from the comfort of my air-conditioned Condo.) For that, I needed chairs. I didn’t know what I wanted other than:

1. Something pretty
2. Sturdy enough not blow off the porch during high winds
3. I wanted them now

At the time, I was working on painting and decorating our bedroom. I didn’t have time to search for The Perfect Set of Porch Chairs. As a cheap and easy stopgap, I repainted Husband’s ugly bachelor dining room chairs (once upon a time these heavy monsters may have lived in a doctor’s waiting room) green to coordinate with the green shutters on the house. I also did a little staple gun upholstery to upgrade the fabric on the seat and chair back. The revamped chairs looked better. I didn’t hate them with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns anymore.

Hippies, Festivals, and Dogs, Oh My!

The last weekend I went to Comfest, a huge three-day local music, art, and food blowout. A lot of people refer to Comfest as a big hippie festival because for three days Goodale Park looks a little like Height Ashbury in the 60’s with lots of people hanging out and listening to the bands, getting carpel tunnel from signing political petitions, and smelling patchouli in the air. At least I hope that was patchouli I smelled…

Oh and there’s tie-dye. Lots of people wear tie dye. And dogs. People like to bring dogs to Comfest. Sometimes the dogs wear tie dye too.
Not my dog. Blitzkrieg wisely opted to stay home and wear the air conditioner during warm Comfest weekend.