A couple of weeks ago I noticed these new critters on my pasque flowers. I didn't think much of them at the time. Thought they were kind of pretty in a bug way. Not lady bird beetle pretty, but unique and so grey pretty. I had never had them before.
Tonight I was out adding some water to the pond and the bog garden pot, and feeding the new goldfish when I discovered dozens of them. Only on the pasque flowers. I mean dozens.
I took several photos with my iPhone, but reached for my camera to take some macros. The pictures on my iPhone show their numbers but not their details.
I have five pasque flowers in the rock garden. Two of them are the same color, the others are other newer variations.
I emailed photos to my office manager, Lita, from work. I deal with insects every day, but most often it is with trees, shrubs, and grass. I have never had an insect or pest issue on my garden beyond spraying with water. I do a soil drench on the aspen trees for aphids each year because their honeydew drips all over the shade garden and our front porch. Sometimes when I have a slug problem I spread some organic bait. I am not really an organic gardener. I use pesticides at work all the time. I would rather spray it and take care of it and use cultural practices to treat. At home there just hasn't been a large need.
I texted Lita because although she is not an entomologist by trade she is a huge insect connoisseur. So between the two of us we figured it out. They are Ashgrey blister bugs. They have an interesting life cycle that revolves around grasshoppers. Last year we some issues with grasshoppers and I just let them be. It was not a threshold that required spraying. Now that I think back that may have been a mistake. These critters are actually feeding on the anemone.
So I will bring home some carbaryl and spray them. Can't have this going on in my garden.
This little guy was found on the backside crest of the waterfall. See how he blends into the pea gravel and small cobble ground cover? I have never seen this color or species in my garden or one this color period. He is rather grey and opaque. He is short-bodied and round. I only discovered one of them, so for now he can stay.
Have a great rest of the week!
:) Posted by Heather using BlogPress from my iPad. Happy blogging!
Location:W Flora Pl,Denver,United States
3 comments:
Thanks for your comment. Your weather sounds awful. It's hard to believe we live in the same country. I had a comment on my Facebook page from a man who said they were also having unusually wet weather in France. We're fairly dry, but cloudy & cool in Seattle now.
I've totally never heard of those bugs before! I still have nightmares about the grasshopper back home when I was a kid. First you'd have the tiny little juveniles, which almost seemed cute...then, almost overnight, you'd have thousands of adults...eating everything in sight!
Bugs are a big problem this year here, but for me it's mostly large amounts of hornets and wasps.
Cher Sunray Gardens
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