Ladybird, ladybird...

Warning: the following post may be disturbing to rose lovers...

As I mentioned last week, the roses' juicy new shoots have been magnets for aphids. Part of me would love to whip out the pyrethrum spray and nuke the little blighters, or at very least spray on an oil-soap-water emulsion. That would be the quick fix, but i know that a few weeks later would bring more aphids needing more attention.

Everything I can find online suggests that ladybirds cannot resist a huge open air buffet of succulent aphids such as that which we are providing. Even more alluringly, once they come, their party can last all summer. So I have decided to sit tight and wait for red-winged brigade rather than spray.

Jan Pienkowski

In the meantime, Big Bro and I planted garlic cloves between the roses and I will allow myself the "pleasure" of manually squashing the largest gatherings. I'm also appreciating the diversity of aphid colours (green, white, black and orangy) and body shapes (wingless, winged, enlarged abdomen). I'm not sure what their significance is, but they do make good subjects for improving my macro photography skills...

Stay tuned...