Chow Down, Lady Bug!

Aphids For Dinner!

The Asclepia in our butterfly garden have set seed pods full of milkweed, and the pods have attracted more than butterflies--they've also attracted a horde of bright yellow aphids.

We've been reluctant to use the Bug Blaster to blast them off because that would probably also wipe out any Monarch butterfly eggs or small caterpillars on the leaves, too.

So we were delighted to see a few Ladybugs (Coccinella septempunctata) eating the aphids.  In a few days this one Ladybug had cleaned almost all the yellow aphids off this milkweed pod.  It's amazing how voracious an appetite these bugs have, but there are plenty more of the aphids to keep her and the others satiated.

And as far as we're concerned, she's welcome to all the aphids she and the others can eat.  Go Ladybugs!