Beneficial Insects

[JPlovesflowers]

We have had tons of ladybugs in our yard this year after not seeing the first one for the past 2 years. I have not used any insecticides this season and I cancelled the service on my ornamentals. I'm wondering if this is what has attracted the ladybugs. We did have a large amount of aphids on our roses, but they seem to be gone, I'm guessing thanks to the ladybugs. I have a Safer 3 in 1 spray that I have used in the past, but I wanted to give nature a chance to take care of it this year and I am so pleased to see my little lady bug friends. When we first started finding them, we caught them and moved them to the rosebushes, but lately we have so many, we just let them stay wherever they land. I was actually planning on purchasing ladybugs from an online supplier and splitting my purchase with a friend, but here they have come for free! Yeah!

[Jess]

Wonderul!
It is amazing how quickly they come back once the cides have gone.
My roses also have a couple of weeks each year where they are covered in greenfly but the predators don't take long to get rid of them. I hope you see some other predators arrive soon.

[NewjerseyTea]

I love this thread! Thanks for starting it JPlove.

I was thinking I'd leave the aphids on the native honeysuckle this year. They start out the season completely covered on the tender new growth and the first flush of flowers. Usually I hose them off and/or wipe them off with a gloved hand. But this year I was trying to give a little more of the garden back to the creatures. This morning I was rewarded with a female goldfinch swaying on the ends of the vines, clearly eating either the aphids or other bugs the aphids attracted. I also saw the fierce looking ladybug larvae in abundance.

[Jess]

I love this thread! Thanks for starting it JPlove.
This morning I was rewarded with a female goldfinch swaying on the ends of the vines, clearly eating either the aphids or other bugs the aphids attracted.

How wonderful. I have bluetits picking at the aphids on the plants but I have never seen a goldfinch do that.
I did have house sparrows come and eat the flies on the Euphorbias characias right outside my living room window about a month ago. That was pretty neat. I didn't realise that Euphorbias attracted flies to pollinate.