I have always had a lot of ladybugs but they don't usually arrive until about July. I'm talking about the regular little red guys with black dots. I assume they came en masse for the spider mite buffet. Last year I had very few red ladybugs, but I did have some black ones with red dots. I had never seen them before last summer.
My biggest garden nemesis in recent years has been a plant not a bug. I planted verbena bonariensis a few years ago, grew it for two years. It about took over.I tried to eradicate it for 3 years but they were popping up everywhere. I am plagued with reseeding flowers, think mats of them that keep coming. This year it was larkspur. I worked hard for years to get the tall stately ones. This spring I was overrun with them. So I did bite the proverbial (organic) bullet and applied Preen. Success. I still have volunteers popping up, but at least they're manageable. OK, you do have to be nuts to grow this many plants per square foot, I admit.
Karen
