At the end of the season last year I put away all the outdoor furniture and parasols. I knew that one had a lot of ladybirds hibernating inside so I gently wrapped it up and put it away. Now that the new season is upon us I have started to put things out. I checked to make sure that there were already some of them flying around and know that the aphids are already devouring our Roses so the Ladybird house of Parasol could come out, and this is the result.
I put the parasol in the sun with the ends resting on the arms of a bench seat and let the heat take effect,
within a very short time they were walking around and flying away to do the job of best garden helper, keeping the aphid numbers down.
I was amazed at the numbers of them from tiny ones to quite large ones. Black two and four spot, Orange four to eighteen spot and a couple with none at all.
As I turned each section over more would appear and I would wait for them all to fly away before exposing the next batch, it took quite a long time to release them all out into the garden.
All in all, a very rewarding experience with only two that did not make it through the winter but hundreds that did, I would call that a great success.
Lovely little Ladybird after a snack !
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