Gardeners love Ladybugs -  Ladybugs love aphids 

Do you want some help in controlling pests in the garden?  Ladybugs are winged insects that belong to the beetle family.  They are small, rounded and usually bright coloured with hardened wing cases to cover the transparent wings.  The red and black markings are a warning to birds and small animals that the ladybug tastes bad. Look for ladybugs  on leaves and stems of plants.  They will eat aphids, mealybugs, scale insects and spider mites.   You can encourage ladybugs to live in your garden by making this food recipe.    In a bowl mix with a spoon ¼ cup white sugar 1 tsp. yeast 2 cups of warm water Let sit until mixture stops foaming.   Add ½ tsp. natural honey, mix thoroughly until it has the consistency of syrup.  Pour into a spray bottle and spray plants where ladybugs are believed to be present.  Use all mixture or discard leftovers as it doesn’t keep.  Reapply a new mixture after a few days or after a rainfall. This recipe was printed in Ontario Gardener, Spring 2001 by Jennifer Moore.      Ladybug facts     Did you know that ladybug's wings can flutter 85 times in a second?  Aphids are a ladybug's favorite food.  The spots on a ladybug fade as the ladybug gets older. The male ladybug is usually smaller than the female. Ladybugs make a chemical that smells and tastes terrible so that birds and other predators won't eat them. A female ladybug will lay more than 1000 eggs in her lifetime.   Ladybug Legends  The very sight of a ladybug is believed to be lucky; to kill one brings inevitable misfortune. When a ladybug is placed on the hand while making a wish, the direction in which it flies away indicates that from which the luck will come. If a ladybug lands on a person, whatever ailment the person has will fly away with the ladybug. If the spots on the wing-cover of the ladybug exceed seven, it's a sign of famine. In Central Europe, people believed that if a girl caught a ladybug and it crawled across her hand, she would be married within a year. Folklore suggests if you catch a Ladybug in your home, count the number of spots and that's how many dollars you'll soon find.

I painted this ladybug on a roundish rock so that I could add it to my garden. First paint the rock all red.  When dry add the circular black face, line down back and spots.  When dry add the eyes, nose, mouth and antennae.  When totally dry coat in a fixative so that it can be placed in the garden.

Never Hurt a Ladybug!   Ladybugs are in my yard Just look at them devour   Those pesky aphids on the leaves Of all my pretty flowers!  Never hurt a ladybug  We need them in the garden   Ladybugs help flowers grow    So we must give them pardon!  ~Author Unknown~

This ladybug is made from an interlocking paving stone that can be purchased from a home improvement store for less than a dollar. Using acrylic paints first paint the body red and the head black. You may need a few coats of paint to cover it properly. Add a black stripe down the middle of the body and some black dots. I traced a small round lid before painting the dots. The eyes were made by first painting the circles white and then adding a smaller blue circle. A few eyelashes and a mouth give my ladybug some character. Spray the whole stone with a fixative before placing into the garden. This is a fun project for the kids and the kids at heart.

See some step by step photographs for painting ladybugs on small rocks.

Frogs have it easy - they can eat what bugs them !

The Gardens ~ The Craft Room ~ Garden Whimsy ~  Seeds & Plants ~ craftygardener.ca

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