Call them plant lice. Call them plant suckers. Call them aphids.

The tiny, soft-bodied insects with pear-shaped bodies form denses colonies on plants.

They suck. Literally.

Their destructive feeding habits do not endear them to gardeners and farmers. No love lost. No lost love.

California has more than 450 species of aphids, according to the book, Caliifornia Insects, written by Jerry A. Powell and Charles L. Hogue.

I spotted these aphids on a friend's gaura (Gaura linheimeri). She called the guara a "desert rose."

Not everything was coming up roses.

For the aphids, this "desert" rose was an an oasis.