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Posts Tagged: lady bugs
Guess What Other Insects Like Milkweed!
Monarch butterflies aren't the only insects that like milkweed. Honey bees, lady beetles and aphids, do, too. We found all three insects, plus a monarch butterfly, on our scarlet milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) today (Labor Day). Most of the...
Labor Day activity: A honey bee and a lady beetle (see center of blossoms) forage on a scarlet milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Oleander aphids also like the scarlet milkweed (along with honey bees and monarch butterflies). The milkweed is the host plant of the monarch butterfly but this plant "hosts" other insects, too. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A monarch butterfly laying eggs on a scarlet milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
How Small Is Small?
Sometimes in a world of towering skyscrapers, jumbo jets and warehouses big enough to hold a small planet--or at least a state the size of Rhode Island--we don't realize how “small” small is. Last weekend it was a veritable insect feast...
A lady beetle, a monarch caterpillar and an infestation of oleander aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An oleander aphid on "the nose" of a monarch caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An oleander aphid on the back of a monarch caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An oleander aphid crawling on a tentacle of a monarch caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Good Guys--and Girls!
Think of them as "the good guys" and "the good girls." Insects such as lacewings, lady beetles and flower flies. We're delighted to see that the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has just published a 250-page book on "Farming with Native...
A syrphid fly, aka flower fly or hover fly, nectaring on a tower of jewels. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lacewing glows in the afternoon sun. Larvae eat such soft-bodied insects as mealybugs, psyllids, thrips, mites, whiteflies, aphids, small caterpillars, leafhoppers, and insect eggs, according to the UC IPM website. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The lady beetle, aka ladybug, is well known for its voracious appetite of aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Walking the Line
Some folks like to watch the grass grow, flowers bloom, or clouds drift. Others just like to sit back and look for insects. We spotted this seven-spotted lady beetle (aka ladybug) last Monday morning in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a...
Seven-spotted lady beetle on a California fuchsia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lady beetle searching for some tasty aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lady beetle pauses on mid-stem. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
