- Author: Marian I Chmieleski
Walking out into the yard this morning was a sensual experience. The 'Eureka' lemon is dropping blossom petals like rain and the perfume wafts across the yard on a gentle breeze. The lilac (Syringa) adds its perfume and graceful blossoms, the floribunda roses (Rosa 'Iceberg') are budding, the Gerber daisies (Gerbera jamesonii) are smiling happily at me and the Freesias bow down as I pass.
The impetus for my walk this morning was to check those roses, which have attracted a bumper crop of aphids. I can't quite hear their munching and sucking, but I can see that they are at work trying to reshape my nascent blossoms. I wanted to see if my friends the lady beetles/lady bugs (family Coccinellidae) had arrived to begin their work. They have not. But I know that within the week they should be making their appearance along with the hover flies/syrphid flies (order Diptera) and perhaps a few green lacewings (Chrysoperla rufilabris), which, by the way, I have already seen inside the house.
All of the aforementioned critters will be delighted to dine on my aphids and yours. Can you recognize them all? I'm sure you know the lady beetles with their red spotted backs, but perhaps you haven't met the hover flies. They can look a bit like little bees with the yellow, black or white bands on their bodies. They are not bees, however, and they do not sting. They dart quickly from flower to flower, hovering in between like little helicopters, even at times flying backwards--one of only a few insects able to do so. The eggs they lay on around your flowers will become little maggots (green, yellow, brown, white or orange) that rise up on their hind legs to catch and eat aphids, mealybugs and others. And right along with them, both the green lacewings and the brown lacewings also lay tiny silken eggs that in their larval stage will feast on aphids. The lacewings have a very slender body about half-an-inch in length. Their transparent wings look like they might belong to a fairy. All these are very good workers to have in your garden!
There is one crew that is already madly at work at my house. That was the music I heard this morning. As mentioned, the lemon tree is in full production, and a critical part of that process is handled by the bees. They are swooping around, investigating every branch, crawling into open blossoms to sip the nectar and retrieve the pollen, which they will share with the other flowers into which they crawl doing their pollination dance. Because of them I have a tree full of lemons ripening for my lemonade, lemon water and lemon pies. Lovely.
In conclusion, I remind us all that these beneficial insects need our cooperation to continue in their work. They clean up our garden and make it possible for us to enjoy food crops that without their pollination would never bear fruit. Please include in your garden a little source of fresh water and avoid the use of pesticides. In my garden I have found that Nature balances everything out and a few misshapen roses are a small price to pay for the knowledge that the yard is clean and chemical-free for all to enjoy.