Well, gonna stick my neck out here and say, "Why worry?" First off, the ladybugs you buy at the nursery are not your native ladybugs. Secondly, about 95% of them fly away :-) If you just plant a very wide variety of plant life, especially adding in California native varieties, you'll get ladybugs when you need them. It never fails. In fact, if I start seeing lady bugs in my garden, I start looking around for aphids :-) If I find them, I spray the affected plant or tree with a hard blast of water, and then control any ants that may be farming the aphids. Save your money. buy a nice California native plant. Be biodiverse and you'll have all the beneficial insects you need to help keep your garden in check :-)

Patty S.

Lady bugs are captured in their hibernating state and packaged for sale. Not a good value for the gardener. If you watch your plants and when you see aphids wash them off, you can manage most gardens. My neighbor who grows 350 acres of grapes organically plants a cover crop of insect feeding plants which provides all the beneficial insects to manage the grapes with no spraying. Al

The people who harvest lady bugs for sale are doing great damage to our natural environment. Lady bugs gather in amazingly large groups and can be scraped up by the thousands, taken to stores for sale and then are dumped out in strange gardens where they usually just fly away.
Please don't buy them -attract locals to your garden instead.
Min

i have to agree with other in saying that buying ladybugs to put in one's garden does little good. attract them to your garden instead by gardening organically and planting a mixture of plants (as opposed to mono-crop).

My experience of introducing my beloved ladybugs into my yard was a very positive one indeed. I bought a whole herd of them and just let them go in my backyard as per the very easy instructions on the package. Didn't notice much that first year, but unbeknownst to me, they were steadily multiplying and lo and behold walking around the yard in spring there were literally millions of my beloved ladybugs everywhere, my backyard is somewhat native, never had a problem with aphids but they like it here alot and I love having them here. There must be a food supply somewhere or they wouldn't be so happy here ...I'm just happy to see them so happy here too.

pfckce
I hope you enjoy your ladybug garden as much as I enjoy mine...Provide an attractive environment for the ladybug by planting "umbrella shaped" perennials and plants such as yarrow, tansy,fennel, cilantro, angelica, and other pollen and nectar rich flowering plants like dandelions and geraniums close together.
Avoid spraying synthetic insecticides & pesticides which are harmful to ladybugs and humans.
The ladybug is known as a Beneficial predator of various pest insects.
They are in search of insects from dawn to dusk with a Huge appetite to eliminate the populations of aphids, mites, scales,leaf hoppers, and other small insects that feed on various garden plants and flowers.
An adult ladybug can consume about 1000 aphids a day.
Ladybug populations are vital to our gardens and farms and also restore balance to our ecosystem.
Happy Ladybuging to you...