Some days I wonder if I should be gardening at all. Things on the balcony are a mix between good and bad.

2 more gardenia plants look like they’ve given up the ghost. All the leaves went brown before drying up and now they look like sticks. The remaining 2 gardenia plants that actually have leaves on them look like they’re struggling. New growth looks small, and the leaves further down the stem have dropped. I did manage to get it to give me one little sickly looking flower though, which made my week!

I thought it could be too alkaline, so I started giving it a handful of coffee every couple of weeks and watering it with water mix with a splash of apple cider vinegar. I only started doing this recently, so it’s going to take a while before I see if it’s helping.

The calla lilies never bloomed for me. At least not yet. They’re probably not too happy about being eaten by fungus gnats. Which I think are still around, but in less quantity.

I burned the leaves of the orchids. They were also suffering from not enough water, so I switched orchid potting mix to one that had finer bark pieces that looked like they would hold more water. I think that did the trick because I haven’t seen any new burns on the leaves. A few also looked like they were shooting up new bulbs.

The frangipani I bought is leafing like crazy. The fungus problem it had in the soil looks like it’s under control. I watered it with an acidic solution and it looks to have done the trick. No flowers or inflo yet, but I still have hope.

The frangipani seedlings are doing well too. They’re all leafing nicely and growing happily in their green house.

The red asiatic lilies are dying down now. I think they’re new bulbs so I’m going to dig them up and split them if required.

I’ve decided to do as much re-potting as possible when the time comes. I’m thinking that the potting mix I bought from this one particular store wasn’t pasteurised and that’s where the gnats came from. So I’m going to try to change as much of them over as possible.

I’m still spraying with pyrethrum regularly to keep populations down, but I don’t really want to do that forever.

All in all, I don’t think I’m doing too badly, but the gardenia thing is really getting me down. They were my pride and joy and I love them too much to give up just yet!