Beauty and the Barely Visible Beasts

Awhile back, I decided that it would be a good idea to purchase a few hibiscus plants for my apartment balcony. My favorite complex in O-town used to have some beautiful hibiscus which bloomed profusely with little care (or so it seemed at the time). Lowe's had just what I was looking for - a bright red version and a peachy-orange version which has a double flower. "Aces!" I thought; here's one of my lovelies when it was new:

A few weeks after getting my plants, I started getting yellow leaves on the peachy one. Predictibly, I started thinking that I was a bad mother - that I was either watering too much or not watering enough or sending my baby to the wrong college prep boarding school. I looked online and got some more feedback which included the possibility of bugs. While I hadn't seen any bugs, I also didn't have a lot of time to look. I'm busy, dammit! Why can't these damn plants look after themselves? Say it: bad mother.

Well, it's been dry the past few weeks. That wouldn't mean much to my plants as they're in no position to get water without my help. But this does mean something when it comes to the surrounding trees, their inhabitants, and my balcony which rests almost inside of a huge oak tree. Which is apparently why I have tiny yellow spider mites which were biting the shit out of me yesterday. I was hanging out on the balcony, making some calls when I looked down and saw dozens of tiny yellow flecks. Moving flecks! The horror!!!

This unexpected turn of events prompted me to find What's that Bug? (http://www.whatsthatbug.com/index.html), a great website for those of you who've got a bug and don't know what it is. Right now, my facination with this website is only matched in fervor by my hypocrandriac attraction to WebMD. I'm afflicted inside and out! At any rate, it seems that the arch nemesis of the spider mite is...water. Um, I'll see if I can manage that extermination, even though it means getting a water sprayer.