Saturday, July 17, 2010

Beneficial Bugs

Spiders can be some of the best natural predators to have around...provided you know where they are and steer clear of their webs. This garden spider is using a patch of monkey grass to spin its home in a nice out of the way place low to the ground.


The zig zag pattern in the middle alerts us that this is an Argiope spider, not a European garden spider.  Similarly, Argiope spiders are usually strikingly yellow and black whereas the the Europeans are gray and tan. Don't worry, there won't be a test over any material covered here.


I was shocked when I did my morning plant inspection and noticed this:


My dragon's blood sedum was covered in bugs! Yikes! I hurriedly snapped some photos for identification and went inside to research.  My anxiety lessened as I quickly learned this probably wasn't a bad thing, and in fact, could be a good thing.  These strange guys are assassin bugs, and I have actually blogged about their kind before here and here! I learn something new all the time. Anyway, assassin bugs are good in the sense that they eat/kill/assassinate pests from plants, and since my succulents seem a little susceptible to caterpillars lately, I am leaving nature as is. I am sure it will all balance out.  Gotta love good ol' Mother Nature.


NOTE:
The lovely Priscilla from Blossom Hideaway informed me that my comment section was not accepting comments. I reverted back to a simple boring template for now just to appease the comment Gods and plan to have a permanent solution sometime in August when I get back from vacation. Or maybe September. 


2 comments:

  1. Awesome, I can leave a comment now :) Thanks for adding my link. Your photography is beautiful! You captured the bugs very well and your flowers are lovely. By the way I love the Wisteria flowers, it was from another one of your post. Have a great weekend!

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  2. Ha, thanks Priscilla! That pic is one of my faves too, so you obviously have great taste ;)
    And your blog is amazing and I doubt you need my endorsement, but it's there if you do.
    Tiffany

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