It’s a bug-update post! Some are pretty, others not so much. But they are all fun to photograph.
The white spider in the third photograph was hidden in an iceberg rose and I noticed him as I was cutting off the spent blooms last week. I let him disembark and he hopped onto the Heliotropium bloom where I thought he looked quite beautiful contrasted against the purple flowers. I’m scared of big spiders that get into the house but I love the smaller ones and value them all in my garden.
Here’s my latest Bug-parade …
[one_half]From the ordinary chafer beetle
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]to the almost scary looking bug
[/one_half_last]
[one_half]an intsy wintsy white spider
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]and then another one of these
[/one_half_last]
[one_half]Who’s eating my Anemones?
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]Ah ha! Caught in the act!
[/one_half_last]
[one_half]There was a parade of caterpillars
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]and we saw plenty of beetles
[/one_half_last]
[one_half]He annihilated one of the Irises
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]And perhaps turned into this?
[/one_half_last]
[one_half]Or was he this before?
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]Or maybe even this?
[/one_half_last]
[one_half]They keep the aphids at bay
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]and then get munched by this!
[/one_half_last]
I’m a very “bug-friendly” gardener. The truth of the matter is, I’m way too lazy to be bothered with all the spraying and laying of potions and pellets. My idea of “pest control” is throwing snails over the wall and lifting those really ugly grey worms up with a trowel and throwing them out with the garden refuse. The rest I let live and hope they keep each other in check or provide food for insect-eating birds. It’s all much easier that way :).
Seen any interesting bugs in your garden lately?
Happy gardening
xxx
17 replies on “Bug-date”
Hi there,
some lovely pictures of nasty bugs. I’m glad I got to know what the spider in the third picture is. I had it here in Malta on my Plumbago and I must say i had never seen one of its kind before. A crab spider, very fitting indeed. It seems to be quite harmless, didn’t do anything to my plant but I was rather surprised to see it set up camp there as I was under the impression that bugs didn’t like the Plumbago and generally kept away. Well, another lesson learnt, thanks guys.
Graziella
Yes, tons of bugs lately! Like you, I try to use IPM techniques and it seems to keep things in balance. Sometimes though, things can get a bit wacky like this spring…there are bugs EVERYWHERE!
I am too lazy to spray too! I am seeing lots of ladybugs right now and almost no aphids. There are lots of slugs and snails though, and they are hungry! I love the picture of that white spider, I don’t think I have seen one like it before, very pretty.
Dear Christine, Bug Season hasn’t started here, yet. Love your beautiful photos. I am not a ‘sprayer’ either, but I do a lot of hand picking — especially of the Japanese beetle. I get great pleasure from dropping them into a small pail of soapy water. It’s my sadistic side coming out. P. x
I like your bug portraits, Christine. Tho photos always are more interesting when a bug is in the photo for some reason. Maybe it is the contrast between the icky and the pretties.
I am the same way. Up until a few years ago I couldn’t even kill slugs and would fling them away. Now they die though. For everything else it’s live and let live.
I’m with you on avoiding spraying–for so many reasons, including environmental issues, laziness, and lack of time. Great bug shots! I actually think they make photos more interesting. I have trouble watching/photographing bugs destroying plants, but I’m absolutely thrilled to capture a shot of a beneficial insect on a plant. 🙂
I also let the insects and arachnids be in my garden, but at the moment, I have a spider population explosion! I think it’s because our cool, wet summer was so good for insects that the spider population has built up, too. There are webs everywhere – all over the cars, the house, the trees and shrubs, the lawn, in the shed. I feel that if I stand still too long, a web may be built on me!
You have some very beautiful beetles. Ours are mostly drab brown or black. I wonder if your white spider is a crab spider of some sort. The Misumena species here change color to blend in with the flowers where they lurk. He probably blended in beautifully with the Iceberg rose.
Beautiful photos! I also dislike big spiders in the house. But in the garden I tolerate all creatures. I expect them to keep everything in balance.
Little white spider is a flower or crab spider. Able to change to a pink or yellow suit, if you put him on that colour. Unlike the chameleon it will take him a while to change.
Really ugly grey worms would turn into that bronze scarab beetle. You could offer them to your bird-feeder. Someone will happily claim LUNCH!
Glad to be able to read this post – yesterday your site was down.
Love LOVE your bug collection! They all seem so important in the greater scheme of things. I know that ants keep ladybugs away from the aphids, so I have a problem with ants, but I have had more ladybugs than any other year I’ve been here, so my garden balance is coming right. I also don’t spray, and find LESS damage….. so, we all look after each other, I guess! 🙂
Enjoy!
Too cold for most bugs here…yours are lovely…I do love mine for much the same reason as you do…mostly for the benefits to the birds and the garden…spiders outside only…
I feel the exact same way! I figure there’s some other bug that will show up to munch on whatever’s bugging me! (I’ve only found two things that hasn’t been true for, and I’m in a state of quandary about what to do!) That moth is beautiful. I wonder if your little white spider realizes how lucky he was!
That moth with the bit of pink is beautiful!
I have the same approach to bug control as you. I also plant a few more native plants to attract beneficial native insects that I hope eat the bad bugs. So far, so good.
Love it! In the rose bud photo toward the end, do you actually see the stink bugs eating the aphids? Most of them eat plants, but a few a predatory and eat other insects. I’ve never noticed any of the predatory ones in my yard, but I’ll keep closer watch this year. 🙂