Green Thumb Gone Wrong

While we were in Japan, we didn't have any houseplants . We were only supposed to be there for 24 months and I didn't want to waste my money buying plants only to give them away in a short time.

I consider myself to have a better-than-your-average-bear-green-thumb. My house in California resembled a well-groomed jungle, inside and out.

But here, for some reason, my plants are dropping like mosquitoes in a bug zapper. So far, I've killed a pot of ivy, a schefflera, two dracaenas, a 6-foot ficus tree, and I seriously disabled a sago palm. In the back yard, my tomato plants refused to blossom, my rose bush has black spot, my gaura stopped blooming, my columbine dried up and my lavender got black and soggy. There are bugs on my redbud and holes in my hostas. Oh, and the fifty-foot pine in the back is turning brown and needle after needle is dropping to it's death.

I have no idea what is going on. Maybe I'm out of practice... maybe it's the difference in climate... maybe it's because I'm usually running around here like a chicken-with-it's-head-cut-off and I just don't have the time to devote to gardening anymore. But no matter the reason, I'm starting to get really, really, annoyed with the situation. I like to see green out my window and in the corners of my living space and on my furniture. I'm redoubling my efforts, buying some Sevin, and calling an arborist. I WILL get a handle on this situation.

Here is what I AM doing right: