Ladybugs Attack! Part 2

In Ladybugs Attack! Part 1, my roommate Andrew and I released a bag of them to help control an aphid infestation in his garden. That was successful and when I discovered aphids in Alan’s garden, on the honeysuckle and verbena, I knew what to do.

I spread the ladybugs throughout the garden and they went to work.

On the honeysuckle.

I spread them on every plant to broaden their territory. In the impatiens.

In the astilbe.

After spreading them throughout the garden I left the rest in the bag in the final pot, which contained the infested verbena.

Dinner time!

The red cordyline in this pot made a great launching pad.

And a great place for other business.

I’m not in Alan’s garden often, but do check on the progress of his garden. I was delightedly surprised when I found this ladybug larva on July 25, nearly 1 month later. My phone camera had trouble focusing on the critter.

There is a better picture of a ladybug larva at Savvy Housekeeping. It is described as a cross between an alligator and an accordion.

On a later visit I discovered this ladybug on the potato vine on Aug 11.

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Before I launched the ladybugs, I made some improvements to Alan’s garden. I had mentioned in Alan’s Front Yard June 26 there were some plants that needed replacing or removal.

I had planted two cala lilies with the astilbe, sometimes plants look better in threes, but they were yellowing.

In this case the astilbe is a showstopper on its own.

I also didn’t like the ‘Hot Lips’ salvia I had planted. Their position behind the tall shrubs and in between flushing of their red and white blooms they were hard to spot.

I planted these two perennials that grow tall with spectacular blooms; 'Fire Ball' bee balm and ‘Lucifer’ crocosmia.

They can be seen from the street and will come back next year even more stunning.

Alan’s Backyard June 26

It has been just over a month since I started working on Alan’s garden. You can see the start of this progress on Alan’s Backyard May 22. Alan’s dog Cooper came out to greet us!

You can see that his backyard is amazing with the a huge chimney as the focal point in the background. His favorite plant is impatiens and this shady yard really creates a perfect environment for them.

The impatiens add a nice accent under the two vines. You can see the work done on these vines on Alan’s Backyard May 29.

Earlier in the May 22 post I mentioned there was a surprise in this jasmine.

A shelf to hold these two pots of impatiens.

I planted this honeysuckle to replace the damaged jasmine.

The chimney is a great focal point and allows for some fun design.

Up on the chimney I planted these two pots.

I used red and orange petunias, yellow and orange calibrachoa and white ‘Star Dust’ euphorbia to replicate fire.

This pot sits on the raised hearth. I used red verbena, yellow sanvitalia, red cordyline and white ‘Star Dust’ euphorbia to also replicate fire.

On the side of the house I planted ‘Super Elfin Violet’ impatiens in the window box.

I planted this ligularia and these two ‘Cherry Berry’ hosta next to it, then lined the bed with impatiens, ‘Super Elfin Pink’ around them then lined the bed with the violet ones like the window box.

A big part of the project was filling a lot of pots. This pot sits on the back porch and mimics the one on the front porch with ‘Purple Shield,’ Tradescantia and impatiens.

As seen from inside the house.

I put purple and hot pink claibrachoa into this strawberry pot with pink and light purple bacopa. Most of these pots were planted on Alan’s Backyard June 5.

I planted this astilbe in this pot to mimic the one in the front yard. The plant to the left is one of Alan’s house plants. Wait till you see its bloom.

This is what I found on July 12. Kapow! Does anyone know what kind of plant this is? Incredible!

I transplanted this grass from the pot that now sits on the hearth. I gave it a white bacopa friend.

And more pots!