Keeping an ivy alive and green and ready to take on the coat hangers of the world…. is really so simple.

Here’s the solution.

Ready?

Dish washing soap.

Here’s the proof.

                      Ivy circa April 12, 2011                                                                       Ivy circa June 28, 2011

Have you seen an ivy when it gets yellow and pale and the leaves start falling off?

It’s usually because of spider mites.

I don’t remember who told me to use dish washing soap to get rid of them.

And I don’t know why it works.

But it does.

The secret is cheap soap.

No fancy stuff.

No extra anti-bacterial nonsense.

Just soap.

Simply add 2 tsp. of soap to one pint of water.

Don’t add anymore soap or your topiary may not recover.

Then pour mixture into a spray bottle filled with water.

And if you do this….can you try to get a cuter spray bottle than mine?

Not just one from Wal-mart.

A really cute spray bottle.

Like this one.

Or this one.

Or at the very least make a cover for it like this.

Then take your really cute spray bottle and spray the leaves every two to three weeks.

That’s it.

Your topiary will thank you.

Your ivy will thank you.

And the spider mites will have to buy a Winnebago and take a cross-country trip to their condo in Florida

PS  If you want to know how to make a topiary….here’s a post where I used a coat hanger to create one!

PPS  Here’s an article on using soap that has much better directions and tells when not to use soap under certain conditions.