Almost any time we’re mentioned as a state

Wicked cute, thank you for sharing!

Tbh I sometimes wake up with a crick in my neck and do this to work it out

I’m unable to view it using Sync, so it might not be the app.

Look at those pollen pants!

They always do, in spite of me asking them to stay tiny and fluffy

In my experience, the ants that nest in our pots tend to favor the species we let have dry periods between waterings - in other words, our driest pots. If we can get the ants out of the picture, the aphids will lose their defenses and your predators can have a field day.

One method we’ve had some success with is submersion in water, using medium to large storage totes depending on the size of the pots. The tunnels flood and sometimes collapse, and you can flush them out.

Something else you could use is diatomaceous earth, which is generally available in garden and hardware stores. Make sure to liberally coat the soil surface and stem, and try to dust the aphids as well. Don’t inhale it. You’ll need to reapply it whenever it gets wet, so I’d recommend bottom watering whatever you can - I have a few small (1m x .3m) rubber boot trays I use for that. Something to note is that the DE is a broad-spectrum tool, so it won’t discriminate between the ants, aphids, or the predatory insects.

Someone on the town crew was out with the boom flail mower, mowing on the sides of the road. Ostensibly, it’s to keep the drainage channels clear and to reduce plants from reaching out into the road. Guy mowed my entire front row of ferns, skipped some lilies, then mowed down my flowering and decorative grasses. At one point, he must have lifted the boom to avoid an Iris, but then brought it back down on another flowering grass in the middle of my front gardens. They’ll survive, but my front garden is going to look destroyed for a few weeks at least while they recover.

In more positive news, we had some friends and their son visit on Sunday. My wife took the other ladies around to walk in the gardens at one point while I was cooking - I found out later that we’re part of the inspiration for some folks who are looking to start a sober living space!

First and foremost, I appreciate how patient and helpful you’ve been; thank you.

That’s how I’ve been doing it for a while. Two years at least, as that’s when I first bumped into the pictrs limitations. I’d done it before on other message boards but made full use of it since landing at Beehaw. As of yesterday it started giving me the album links instead when following the steps as you’ve outlined.

The alternative mentioned by Blaze and seconded by PenguinCoder does what I need very conveniently

An all around good egg, who often pops into threads just to be helpful.

The only url I’m able to get through the app is

https://imgur.com/a/7sSZfrH#fAh9k4C

Interesting. I made another attempt this morning but all the links are to the site and not directly to the image address

Wholly agreed!

1. that IS easy enough even for me

2. I can’t express how honored I feel seeing you reply, it’s like a rite of passage

This might feel like I’m giving you homework^[1], but below are pages with images and descriptions for each plant mentioned so far, along with a link to a dichotomous key for identification near the top of each page. There’s a difference in the calyx (the star shape on the bottom, for those unfamiliar) that seems clear to me but it could be an effect of the camera lighting or position.

H. arbutifolia

C. lacteus

P. coccinea

[1] I totally am

Hmm maybe. The cluster looks similar to C. lacteus but the leaves don’t appear the same to me. My guess was going to be Pyracantha even though I didn’t spot thorns in the photo.