What's not to love about ladybugs?
Well, they're actually lady beetles, because they are not true bugs (family Hemiptera), but beetles (family Coleoptera). Scientists have described about 5000 species worldwide, and about 450 in North America.
Last Monday 250 beetles, more or less, graced our pollinator garden. Why so many? Because I won a prize at the Vacaville Museum Guild's brunch: a gardener's basket. It included a container of 250 live beetles.
Ladybugs--we'll call them that here--can eat about 50 aphids a day, so they're the good guys and gals in the garden. A single ladybug can eat some 5000 aphids during its short life span of three to six weeks.
Some quick facts...
Ladybugs are not always red with black spots. The colors can be red, yellow, orange, gray, black, brown and pink. And, not all ladybugs have spots. Some have stripes and some have neither spots nor stripes.
Ladybugs are considered good luck. If a ladybug lands on you, Lady Luck is supposed to smile on you.
But when you welcome 250 beetles into the garden, what happens? To be continued.
Cover image: A ladybug about to take flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
