Gardener's friends

Everyone knows that praying mantises are good news in the garden eating all manner of bad bugs.  I happened to catch this guy hanging out just outside of our back door.



Less commonly known is the ladybug larva, shown below as a black and orange smudge, due to focusing issues. ( :-) )

There were a whole bunch of them munching on the aphids that were covering and dessicating the dying leaves.  It's striking to me that both the aphids and larva seemed to show up out of nowhere to find some random dying melon leaves.  I was happy to let the leaves stay awhile in order to fatten up and become healthy ladybugs.



Originally uploaded by chris brandow