Bug Squad

Once you've seen a leaffooted bug (genus Leptoglossus), you'll never forget it. If you look closely, you'll see a leaflike structure on each hind leg. It's especially noticeable when the bug is on a brightly colored tomato or pomegranate.

Finding a tan-colored damselfly in a patch of fading English lavender is like finding a needle in the proverbial haystack. They're so tiny and inconspicuous that they're easy to miss. They're about an inch long and so slender that they look like flying needles.

Butterflies flutter. Bees don't. Indeed, some bees seem to possess Superman's extraordinary power of "faster than a speeding bullet." They're just lacking a blue costume, a red cape and an "S" on their thorax.

Just call it sleeping with the enemy. But how can you sleep when you sense a predator in your midst? Last night, as usual, was Boys' Night Out in our lavender patch.

In the entomological world, we call that a "two-fer." Two insects in the same photo. Sunday morning we spotted a fiery skipper butterfly (Hylephila phyleus) on an artichoke leaf. It was warming its flight muscles, maybe to flutter over to the lavender for a sip of nectar.