Insects in My Neighborhood in April

I have seen both beneficial insects and insect pests in my neighborhood this month. Here are some I was able to capture with my camera.

Insect Friends

I and my neighbors have many herbs that provide forage for bees and other welcome insect visitors. I love hearing my herbs buzz. Below is a happy bee on my rosemary. The bees are also enjoying my black sage. 

Below is a butterfly enjoying my black sage. They don't mind sharing the sage with the bees.

I was very happy when I saw a ladybug on my wormwood yesterday, but I was unable to get a photo because I was working and didn't have my camera handy. I do have a photo of a ladybug on a vetch plant not far from home, though.

Insect Pests

The reason I was so happy to find the ladybug yesterday is because my calendula plants have been attacked by aphids this month. Ladybugs love to eat aphids. I hope the ladybug I saw will stick around and bring friends. I tore out this plant and another heavily infested calendula to try to keep them from getting any worse. There's still plenty left for the ladybugs. 

I also started seeing baby boxelder bugs yesterday. I didn't have my camera near me, but these bugs visit in droves every year. They get worse in fall. The photo below shows a mature boxelder bug on what I believe is a borage leaf. They don't do much damage, but they can be pests. 

If you enjoyed this post, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of this post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. 

This is my ninth post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is Things You Can See or Experience in North San Luis Obispo County. Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Acorn
B is for Barney Schwartz Park
C is for Cattle in Wine Country
D is for Dark Star Cellars
E is for Electric Wires
F is for Family Farms
G is for Graveyard Vineyards

H is for Horses

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I Love Lantanas

Lantana in Bloom

Recently as I walked by the Park Cinemas Theater, I could not help but notice how tall the lantanas in their planters have grown this summer. I have always loved lantana's multi-colored flowers, but today is the first time I've ever seen their berries. Most lantanas I've planted have never matured enough to produce berries. This photo shows both the flowers and the berries.

The photo  below shows the berries, both green and mature, up close. If one picks the fully mature berries and digs the seeds out of them, one can then clean the seeds and dry them  for a couple of days. Refrigerate the dried seeds in a sealed container until you are ready to plant them.

They should be planted in spring when the weather warms up. Water well at first until established, and then water should be cut back to about once a week. Fertilizer is not necessary. Lantanas can also be propagated from cuttings.

Both birds and bees love lantanas for different reasons. The bees forage in their flowers and the birds eat the berries. Butterflies, especially swallowtails, also enjoy the flowers. The leaves are toxic to most animals, as are the green berries. The jury is still out on whether it is safe to eat the fully ripe blackberries.  I would not advise eating them.

In mild climates, lantanas can survive all year. They should be cut back each spring to promote more blooming. They cannot survive frost, as I've learned the hard way.

Zazzle Creators Love Lantana and the Critters That Love It.

Here are some of their creations.

Flower Collection - Lantana PillowMonarch Butterfly on Lantana Flower Coffee MugButterfly - Eastern Tiger SwallowtailClose Up Butterfly PosterLantana Garden Flower Yellow LabelLantana Flowers StickerLantana Flowers Poster,Print Poster

I Saw My First Butterfly This Year Today

It's amazing how almost all my sages are blooming now, but the one that gets the most visits from the widest variety of insects seems to be this black sage plant. The bees always flock around it. At dusk swarms of moths have been flitting from blossom so fast I couldn't see more than the whir of their wings. Today, though, I saw my first butterfly. It was camera shy and fast, but I did catch it in a few poses. This first one is a side view with the wings slightly spread.

This view shows how skillfully the butterfly can camouflage itself in the blossoms of the black sage. Although it shows a completely different color when its wings are spread and you can see the upper side, it blends right in when it's wings are closed like this.










I finally was able to capture this butterfly with its wings spread, and that helped me identify it as a Painted Lady. It may be an American Painted Lady. But it's definitely not the Monarch I had thought it was before I looked it up.




What butterflies are you seeing this spring?

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