Sounds like someone was in your dirt, waiting for supper to get ready...I think if you dose them good with a grease removing detergent like Dawn & water you'll kill the nasty little intruders. I'd take a paper towel and try to gently "wipe" them off after & spray bud again. Keep check on your soil,you may have brought them from where you dug them up from & you'll need to treat soil...you don't want them having floral salad all summer on everthing else coming up.

My iris and roses particularly always seem to have a week or 2 in spring where they get covered in aphids but then the lady bug larva come out and it rebalances. I'd spray them with some soapy dishwater and see if that helps, but don't fret- they will get knocked back naturally, and soon.

Hi Jitterbug and tamelask

I did exactly what my instinct told me to do and that was spray 'em down good with some dish detergent and water from a spray bottle. I did that last night and most of those buggers got killed right away. I did also notice they are on the undersides of most of the large plants as well, literally EVERYWHERE. I sprayed as much as I could but I am sure there are some remaining. Hopefully the regal ladies will be out soon and eat the rest.

I guess I was more worried about the aphids getting into all the other plants and flowers coming up too. I have only seen them on the iris so far, and yeah they were probably already in the soil that came with the plants.

There were thousands of them, I swear. bundled up into piles, some were loners, etc etc. I think I got rid of maybe 80% of them right off the bat.

That being said, the iris I do have appear to be purple and peach in color so far, they are a day or two away from blooming! YAY!

Now if I could just get rid of the VOLES that are eating me alive, I would be all set.

SO many new trails in my freshly rototilled front yards, it drives me CRAZY.

AHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Lyle