bug – The Gardening Blog

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

I have had such weird and wonderful bugs coming into my garden lately that I had to do a special post on all the bugs I have met so far. Every time I step onto my back deck, I have to run and get my camera. It is as if they wait for me and pose. Thanks to a lot of our friends, we were able to identify all of them. Here are a few of them, from the most recent visitors ……

A cheeky grasshopper is sitting in one of my sunflowers and chomping away on the petals – yum!

[one_half]Not a bug, but a common visitor and friend[/one_half]

[one_half_last]This female hopper is hanging by 2 claws[/one_half_last]

Voracious fruit beetles all clambering for a taste of the sticky, yummy figs! The annoying Starlings wake us up in the mornings with their squealing as they tear open the figs. They eat some but they just destroy a whole lot of them. These broken figs are what the fruit beetles are devouring!

[one_half]Remember this little guy? Longicorn beetle[/one_half]