Aphids…

(Disgusting bug alert!)

I think I spoke too soon about a lack of aphids in my garden. To a man, their current favorite all-you-can-eat restaurant is this poor lupine plant. What they don’t know is that they’re about to become the main course instead of the other way around!

I was tempted to knock them off with a hard spray from the hose this afternoon, but I didn’t. They seem to be leaving the rest of the front garden alone, at least on the surface, and if I knock them off, what will the ladybugs and their babies eat?

Hmmm…

11:50pm. Our irrigation district is switching to providing irrigation water to each side of highway 20 every other week, starting tomorrow, and there are a few spots that desperately need water before that happens. Including the aphid-infested lupine.

Interestingly, when I went outside this evening to move the hoses, I checked out that lupine with my trusty flashlight. Maybe I’m imagining things, but it looked like there were far fewer aphids on the outer surfaces of the flowers than there were earlier in the day. The ladybug was still there, just further down on the flower stalk.  

Next morning:

Funny thing is, when I went out there again, that lupine plant was host to not just one, but at least three ladybugs, and a neighboring plant-hotel housed a ladybug couple doing their thing. I got distracted on my way into the house for my phone, so I missed recording the whole aphid reduction team at work….