- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If there's anything better than one ladybug, it's two ladybugs.
And if there's anything better than two ladybugs, it's a cluster of ladybugs.
Our bee friendly garden is devoid of bees, but about 12 ladybugs are overwintering near the house. Some are in the artemsia bush, and others are in the folds of tangerine leaves.
Like postal carriers, they're weathering the driving rain, the bitter cold and the harsh winds. At times it seems like they're puppies cuddling to stay warm.
Ladybugs, aka ladybird beetles, aka lady beetles (family Coccinellidae) are beneficial bugs. They're predators and rid the garden of aphids, scale insects, mites, mealybugs and other soft-bodied insects.
Soon, as spring approaches, they'll do just that.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Red ornaments on a Christmas tree?
No, ladybugs (aka ladybird beetles or lady beetles) on Artemisia.
Ladybugs are overwintering on our Artemisia (genus belonging to the daisy family, Asteracease).
When the rains come, the drops bubble up on the plants and the ladybugs alike.
It's Christmas Eve and the ladybugs are Nature's sparkling red ornaments, providing comfort, cheer and color to the holiday season.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ladybugs, aka ladybeetles (family Coccinellidae), are best known for devouring aphids, those pesky little critters that suck plant juices.
But have you ever seen ladybugs gobbling ants?
There's a three-way predator-prey relationship here. When aphids pierce plant stems, they leave behind honeydew excretions. Ants scurry to the honeydew and quickly alert their buddies. Soon, you'll see a long trail of ants marching toward the honeydew.
Now enter the ladybug, which is attracted--quite nicely, thank you--to both aphids and ants.
This little beetle will feast on aphids and ants much like we humans chow down on popcorn and jelly beans at a movie.
In the photos below, unsuspecting ants climbed a lavender stalk, only to meet their demise.
If you look on You Tube, you'll see a video of an apparently famished ladybug chowing down ants. The background music of Queen's "We Will Rock You" adds the finishing touch.
Want to learn more about ants? Check out professor Phil Ward's website. He's a noted myrmecologist (one who studies the taxonomy, evolution, biogeography and behavior of ants) and a professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis.
One of his former graduate students, Alex Wild, has incredible insect photography on his website, appropriately named myrmecos.net.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Nature's creatures are nature's features at the Solano County Fair, Vallejo, being held Wednesday, June 23 through Sunday, June 27.
Creative exhibitors, in a "this-bug's-for-you" mood, transformed butterflies, ladybugs and bumble bees into arts and crafts projects being displayed in McCormack Hall. The fair is located at 900 Fairgrounds Drive.
You'll see butterfly-inspired quilts, an educational ladybug display, a table-setting dotted with ladybugs, and huge paper mache bumble bee smiling from ear to ear--oops, from antenna to antenna.
If a county fair is a place to educate, inform and entertain--and it is--these displays do just that.
Sometimes folks think of pollinators only during National Pollinator Week, (under way this week through June 27), but it should be an every-day occurrence.
To appreciate and protect them, we need to be reminded of their existence and their role in our environment, our world and our lives.
Every day.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"I'm a ladybug. Please, take me home. I want to live in your garden.
I like to eat aphids. Aphids are tiny green insects that are harmful to plants."
"Just like the Grange, I'm a friend to the farmer and you."
Those visiting the California State Grange booth at the California Agriculture Day on Tuesday, March 23 on the state capitol grounds received that welcoming note, two ladybugs, and information about them.
It was an excellent idea--giving away ladybugs, aka ladybird beetles (Hippodamia convergens). These brightly colored beetles with the familiar black spots eat aphids, moth eggs, mites, scales thrips, leafhoppers, mealybugs and other small insects.
We took home two ladybugs and released them on a rose bush in our patio.
They went right to work.
It reminded us of the two ladybugs we received last year from the UC Davis Department of Entomology at the annual UC Davis Picnic Day. They also found a home in our garden.
This year's Picnic Day, the 96th annual, is set April 17. Look for entomological events at Briggs Hall on Kleiber Drive, and at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at 1124 Academic Surge, California Drive.
The Picnic Day theme? "Carpe Davis: Seizing opportunities."
Including the opportunity to take home a couple of ladybugs.
Bugs and kisses.