Beneficial Trichograms

I released my Trichogramma in the garden yesterday, leaving the little card of eggs tucked away near the yarrow pot - for shade and shelter. I'm looking forward to watching them develop and devour all the nasty caterpillars who are destroying our leaves.

beneficial bugs and some jerks

Coccinellid
Lady Beetle
on my mesclun

Also on my mesclun this morning was a not so beneficial bug, 

a little cabbage looper munchin' on a leaf.

This is the year of the pests (and not the four legged kind that also sleep in our bed). Cutworms got two tomatoes and part of a row of radishes, not to mention kale leaves one by one. Aphids almost got the better of John Davis, but I took care of that - along with a colony of jerks ants left behind after the removal of the mugo pine and potentilla. Boiling water, cinnamon, and a little bit of commercial spray. I am going to win.

Red Admiral

Red Admiral
butterfly
VANESSA ATLANTA

A beneficial garden (in this case, greenhouse) bug, Red Admiral feasts on the sweet nectar of fruit trees and plants. Migratory, and common in the northern hemisphere, these pretty little pollinators are making news all over Ontario this spring, arriving earlier than recent years, and in great numbers. A sign that summer is right around the corner.

Red Admiral
on Giant Bacopa
at Bill Martin's Garden Centre