Yikes Bonnie, I have never heard of any other than the green ones. How badly have they infected your plants? Would ladybugs help with these guys or is it all out war?
I have the strangest little orange and black elongated soft body bugs that seem to be eating the aphids on my rugosas, seems like everyday brings a new good or bad bug, M

mora - those are probably ladybug larvae! Most people have never see them because sprayed pesticides were so common. If you see a strange orange/black thing glued to any leaves or posts or anything leave that as well - it's the pupating stage.

I never get really bad aphid infestations - my garden attracts it's share of ladybugs, lacewings, syrphid flies and parasitic wasps. If I see aphids I usually leave them alone because all those good bugs need something to eat. Nine times out of ten, they're gone in a couple of days.

Those red aphids are common on Heliopsis (which is what they're on in my garden).

BP

Bonnie you are right!I just googled them,so glad I have been leaving them alone, thanks,M

Bonnie,

UGH!! YUCK! EGADS!

Don't know what's going on here this year, but I've had a lot less bugs. It's to the point I barely look anymore. Probably cursing my gardens by saying that, eh?

I'm a little troubled by the absence of Monarchs this year though. We've had plenty of American Painted Ladies and a couple of Yellow Swallowtails and Hummingbird Moths, but nothing else. I do hope the rest of the butterfly crowd shows up soon!

Mora - Had a great day in Lunenburg yesterday! I just love your town!!

I'm not too bad this year for bugs - I just thought these aphids were neat (in a 'oh cool, weird bug' kind of way). I've been squishing one or two every day so they're coming in from somewhere. Normally I leave aphids for the beneficials to eat, but these are kind of big and obvious...

I'm getting lots of Red Admirals and Painted Ladies, but I haven't seen anything else in my garden yet. I've seen a Mourning Cloak and some Monarchs out at the Botanical Gardens though. I've been on the lookout for Black Swallowtails as this is almost the time of year they'll be looking for a place to lay some more eggs (better move my parsley out into the open a bit more). I usually get them in my garden!

BP

In our area it is a very bad year for bugs; all sorts of aphids and white flies. But strangely the ladybugs seem absent. I am glad I don't have any of those monsters though.

Nicole, you were in L'burg ! If you come this way again it would be great to meet in person.Did you come to see the tall ships? M

Bonnie, Those Red Admirals and Mourning Cloaks are really nice. Just googled them and wouldn't mind having those around!

Mora, Yep, we went for the Tall Ships. In Halifax there was looooong line-ups (three hour wait for some ships), but being adopted Haligonians we knew better. In Lunenburg it was just a wait for folks to get off the gangway. Wanted to visit DB in Bridgewater too so it made for a great day! I'll have to get it touch next time we go. Would love to see your gardens!

Went to Pinetree Nurseries... Good stuff. Bought a pink Cimicifuga, Pink Creeping Baby's Breath, and a Jack Frost Brunnera. Was seriously tempted by a Rodgersia...

tiffy - Sounds line you got some nice plants! I'm surprised they had some Rodgersias - they must be getting more popular. Do you remember what sorts they had? I want to get a R. podophylla 'Braunlaub' next year if the place I got them from before has them. That one has really nice dark leaves!

I can't remember if I ever saw a Mourning Cloak around when I lived in NS, but it's supposed to live there. I definitely saw Red Admirals there. At a distance they can look a bit like Painted Ladies (all that black, orange and white), so you might have seen them and not realized.

Red admiral larvae live on stinging nettle, so leave a few in some corner of your yard :-). Sometimes they can be found on hops vines. I got one last year in a trade so hopefully it'll encourage more of them.

Mourning Cloak larvae munch on trees - willow and elms I think. We saw this one at the Botanical Gardens a couple of years ago - it was beautiful!

{{gwi:535809}}

BTW - whose slugs did I get again? You can have them back now. Damned things!

BP

BP,

Can't remember what kind of Rodgersia. They had them at the Briar Patch Nurseries in Berwick this year too, and I think I saw them there last year. Not the dark leaf though. Just starting to buy plants which the deers don't like and this is one of them, but the budget is a bit tight this year, so I had to leave it for next time.

I do have a large leaf tropical plant which I got at the Briar Patch last year that I have to ID. It was dormant when I bought it but the manager told me it was the kind of plant that 'you' would be able to grow. It was dormant because it requires shade and moisture - good moisture - all the time. Told her I had the perfect spot and planted it close to the sump-pit outtake and it's doing fine. It flowered in the spring. Just one stalk sent up with all these pink flowers - no leaves. Then the leaves started to come. I expect this will be a plant everyone will notice. No slugs on it either!!

So that's where all the slugs went!!! LOL!!

Nicole.

tiffy - your mystery plant sounds like it might be a Petasites of some sort (probably japonicus). If it is, it's definitely hardy for you - it's not tropical, although it looks like it should be! It's also got a reputation of being quite invasive. As long as you set up a designated patch size and mow down anything that shows up outside of that area it shouldn't be hard to keep in line. There's a smaller variegated form that I've wanted for a few years but I've never seen it for sale.

I hope you weren't too attached to your slugs - I've been trying to teach them how to swim in a tin of soapy water, but they aren't very successful. I'm starting to run out of volunteers.

BP

Hang on there Bonnie...those are my slugs and they forgot to take their little life jackets with them although they probably needed a bath after travelling so far!
They really enjoy a little spray of 10% ammonia mixed with 90% water and or coffee and so do your plants, well maybe not, thats what I gave them and I haven't seen them since, M

Those are milkweed larvae. They have an interesting life cycle and are pretty adults. I hate that so many people kill first and research later when information is so readily available.