Ellen Wallace
The only thing I can think of that requires more patience than watching a kettle boil is watching a ladybug who has not yet begun to feast on aphids.
The aphids arrive, cover the roses, make the leaves on the apple trees curl, and only then do the ladybugs begin to go to work. I’m not a bio gardener, but I am trying to head that direction and I try to avoid chemical sprays. How hard it was to keep my hands off the spray last night when I noticed that a beautiful honeysuckle bush, which gently perfumes the veranda every summer, was covered in aphids. I remembered noticing during the day that we have more ladybugs than usual this year, so I hoped they would quickly find their way to the honeysuckle.
They did, and they are hard at work on the honeysuckle’s aphid population. I’ve checked the bush three times in the past two hours and the speed with which the ladybugs work is impressive.
The roses where they have been working for a few days now look healthy and nearly aphid-free. Last year I ordered ladybugs and was told by a bio farmer that this year they would come back in numbers that will match the aphid population, if I leave nature to do its work.
So far, nature seems to be keeping its promise on this one. I wish nature would encourage the birds to eat a few more of the large black beetles which are digging holes in the lawn.
Large views of these photos and a cropped closeup of one of the ladybugs are in my Flickr set, Swiss spring 2007.
GenevaLunch, 13 May 2007.
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