If you read my blog last summer, you might remember my post about Praying Mantises. We bought two egg sacks and let them hatch in the garden to take care of the aphid problem. They did a good job but it took the eggs quite awhile to hatch because the weather was cool and rainy. This year, we decided to try ladybugs! They are cuter anyway. Following the directions, I sprayed all my gardens with water yesterday evening and then shook this container of ladybugs here and there in the plants. This morning I took the kids out to see if the ladybugs were happy in the yard or if they flew away. We were most delighted to find them everywhere!
At the same time, we found two very large caterpillars that will turn into Black Swallowtail butterflies. We found two yesterday as well. They like my dill and hyssop. We dug up some of the plants and moved them to an aquarium so that we can watch the caterpillars turn into chrysalises and then butterflies! I am looking forward to taking pictures of the butterflies in the garden once they emerge.