Much to my surprise, the ladybug photos have been a popular selling item. Who knew?? People have also been requesting the back story behind some of my photos lately. No one has asked about the ladybugs. I suppose it just doesn't conjure up much action or intrigue. But it is kinda funny!
On a recent trip up the west coast, I saw ladybugs everywhere. They landed on my camera, the windshield wipers, and random flowers and plants. Cute little things.
I very rarely see them in Tucson. Almost never. Actually, I had to resort to buying them!
My kale had a little aphid plague, so the lady at the nursery suggested them. She was very thorough with her instructions.
First, she said to refrigerate them. This slows them down. Then sprinkle them onto the plants at night when it is cool. Easy enough.
While the refrigerator may have slowed them down, it did not put them into suspended animation, and in the 20 paces from the kitchen to the garden, they were fully animated! Undaunted, I still gently sprinkled the little candy colored bugs throughout my garden.
In less than a minute, it was obvious that the nursery lady had left out a crucial bit of advice: don't wear a shirt with brighter colors than your garden.
My Hawaiian shirt was very popular with the lady bug scene. I was covered! As fast as I could relocated them, they returned. I looked like a lady-bug travel poster. "Visit Hawaii lady bugs, you'll love how you look on our flowers."
Maybe they got the memo, because within 48 hrs, they were gone. Not dead. They ate, packed their bags, waved good-bye, and flew away.
That first night, I eventually managed to place more on my plants than on my person. And the next morning they all looked so cute and industrious in the yard, I decided to take some pictures of them.
I noticed, though, that while I was taking pictures, they never flew from one plant to another in my yard. Instead, they looked dutifully into my lens, smiled, waved, and hauled their spotted VW bug butts into the great unknown.....possibly Hawaii???...
