Amid the bright green, ferny foliage of Queen Anne's Lace, a little ladybug is busy. Busy performing natural pest control!
Ladybugs are a welcome presence in our garden.
The
orange, spotty presence of these beneficial insects indicates there's a food source for them in the garden. Closer inspection of
my Queen Anne's Lace revealed quite a few tiny aphids, those pesty, sap-sucking insects that happen to be one of a ladybug's favourite foods. Rather than intervening, as many a gardener wielding a toxic spray might, I left this sweet little ladybug to enjoy its meal. As a hungry ladybug can eat many aphids in a single day, I figure things are under control.
Have a lovely weekend.
Meg
p.s. If you'd like to attract ladybugs to your garden, you can plant Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot), cosmos, geraniums, dill, cornflowers or calendula.
What a beautiful photo!
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the photo, Lucy. Took me ages to get the ladybug into some kind of focus because the breeze kept blowing the Queen Anne's Lace around! Meg:)
DeleteI didn't know this! Very interesting. I always think it's good luck to spot a ladybug :) x
ReplyDeleteI think it is indeed lucky if you have ladybugs in the garden, Elisa. They do great work but they are also very cute little creatures too. My son is fascinated by them and always laughs when one lands on him or when he gently catches one and lets it crawl up his arm and tickle him. Meg:)
Delete