Ladybug! Ladybug!
Fly away home.

Your house is on fire.

And your children all gone.

All except one,

And that's little Ann,

For she crept under

The frying pan.

Are you wondering, like Duffy is, what is in that innocent looking white bag?

Over 4,000 live lady bugs!

Boy, I'm really bugged!

On the roses looking for aphids.

Chowing down! Within a day or so there won't be an aphid to be found anywhere. No thrips or other pests either.

This lady bug is sitting on a praying mantis egg case tied to a rose bush. I ordered three of these for different parts of the garden and that is about 1,000 mantis!

They're everywhere!

More of them on the sunflowers!

This is the second year I've ordered beneficial bugs for the garden from Arbico Organics along with our regular fly predator order and they are the coolest thing for getting rid of pest bugs. Last year I didn't know about keeping your beneficial bugs around by putting nectar powder mixed with water on and around your plants before you release the bugs. The bugs need the nectar to reproduce so if you don't have enough flowers blooming, they will go elsewhere. Boy what a difference this year! The lady bugs were feasting not only on the aphids but drinking up that nectar. Those little buggers were mating within a couple of hours which means I'll have their ugly babies hatching all summer to keep those pests in check!